Hoi An, roughly translated as peaceful meeting place – was where we learnt about the ancient history and traditions of Vietnam, gaining insight to the country’s true character during our pleasant 5 days there.

Hoi An doesn’t feel like a city, it only take a few moments from the centre of town to be surrounded by rice paddies and the countryside.

To get there we arrived at neighbouring Da Nang train station, 30km away. Da Nang is definitely a city (Vietnam’s 4th largest) and maybe a place that deserves spending some time, we only caught a glimpse of it driving through, admiring the fire-breathing dragon bridge and numerous marble sculptures for sale along the side of the road. The marble mountains and Cham site My Son were recommended for day trips.

There was enough to keep us entertained within Hoi An itself. We stayed slightly out of the historic centre, in an area with plenty of homestays and hostels, just along the river.

Ours had a small swimming pool which was a relief as we really found it hot walking around and it was great to be able to cool down after a busy day!

There were a few nice places to eat close by, such as Tuan and Nhan’s Kitchen but the best dinner we had was at Ho Hien right on the riverfront with a delicious sharing taster menu. The girls were even able to watch from a distance an outdoor show on a neighbouring island.

The historic centre is certainly a tourist hot spot, but we didn’t find it too crowded. You buy a ticket which grants you access to 5 sites which you can chose, all quite small. The area is doable in half a day, we popped back a couple of times as it was so hot to walk around for too long in one go. Highlights were walking across the Japanese Covered bridge, the museum of Trade Ceramics and the Cantonese assembly hall.

It was interesting to go into the small houses and learn about how people lived (although the whole centre feels like a museum rather than a real place to live today).

We had a great time meeting the photographer and photo-journalist Rehaan at Precious Heritage Museum. He had traveled extensively around remote areas of the country, working hard to document the indigenous tribes of Vietnam and taken award-winning, iconic photographs, displayed alongside examples of their ceremonial costumes. Hearing stories about the people he has met (women up to the age of 110!) living so removed from contemporary urban life was fascinating.

We had a very enjoyable evening walking through the Night Market (the best we went to in Vietnam), watching lanterns float down the river from the southern bank. We decided not to partake, trying to avoid creating unnecessary litter….but the site was still rather romantic and atmospheric.

Sadly with it being so close to the beginning of our trip we didn’t make the most of the wonderfully cheap and well made clothing available in Hoi An – visiting only one tailor to sew up some holes that had appeared in our rucksacks!!

Food was a definite highlight. Tom made sure to sample the ultimate Banh Mi which Anthony Bourdain famously experienced.

The speciality ‘Cao Lau’ can, as legend has it, only be made by water from one particular local well. The rice-flour noodle soup with mint, star anise and pork was really delicious, but the girls favoured and devoured – banh bao or ‘white rose’ – steamed manioc-flour parcels filled with crab or shrimp and topped with crispy onions.

We had a great meal centrally at Morning Glory but ate just as well from street food stalls. The struggle with spending evenings in the centre was getting a cab to take us home.

We decided to do a family cooking class, which included a trip to the market and boat trip and was a fantastic half day out.

We are now experts at making spring rolls, stir fry and pho beef soup.

Everyone seemed to do everything on 2 wheels – and motorbikes more than bicycles – so we decided to join in the safest way we could with the girls – by taking a side car tour!

We opted for just a one-hour tour with Hoi An Sidecar tours, which was plenty – taking us through the rice paddies and nearby villages. We stopped off for a ride on a water buffalo which was surprisingly enjoyable, they are very docile creatures, it was interesting to learn more about them. We met a few more in Cambodia!

The tour neatly dropped us off at An Bang beach where we spent the rest of the day. We lunched at la plage which gave us access to sun loungers on the beach for the afternoon, where we made an epic fort sandcastle with incredible tunnelling systems – only for it to be forcibly knocked down soon after it had been completed by vendors looking to find a spot for their customers to sit! We ended the day at the great Soul Kitchen with dinner, drinks and a game of uno as the sun went down.