Just beside the busy port along the Thu Bon River is the equally busy Hoi An market. It seems that everyone is at the market since the place is so packed. What is interesting is that market is packed not by tourists but by the Vietnamese locals themselves.
The main street along the market entrance is lined with vendors wearing their traditional conical hats selling vegetables, flowers, fruits and even souvenirs. Actually, I was there looking for something to buy to give the folks at the office. but it seems that there aren’t really a lot of snacks worth bringing back. Most of the snacks were coconut based – something which I don’t particularly like. But it seemed like it was the thing to buy when you come from Hoi An. Actually, when I brought them back it didn’t really sell very well either. Apparently, there are a lot of other people who share my dislike for coconut based snacks.
The market was also selling souvenirs from T-shirts to communist style army hats. My friend wanted one so I bought one to bring back. One thing to remember here is to bargain, and bargain hard. It can be really cheap here and it is a surprise how low you can bring the price to. Bargain and try to walk away until they agree to your price. I’m sure they know about that strategy but that is what bargaining is about. I bought a T-shirt for myself – one of those “I was in Vietnam” t-shirts.
You can also eat at the market, I’ve been seeing those huge delicious looking loaves of bread but have been unwilling to try them no matter how tempting they looked. Maybe next time.
By this time, the tourists have also come out and were also buying stuff from the market. I feel that it would have been worth exploring more of the market if only we weren’t in such a hurry to get back to the hotel, since our guides we supposed to meet us.
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