Da Nang : Part 12 - Chicken Rice and Tan Ky Old House

So, in less than 10 minutes, we were at our new place of stay. Golden River Hotel. The Hotel was just 3 months old. Initially, the room costs USD25, but we asked for a discount and got it for USD22. Conclusion - ask for discount in anything to get the discount. The receptionist was really friendly, and after getting to know her, she helped us in a lot of stuff - finding the best food in town, and buying coffee. Her name is Tay, by the way. 

How lovely. A swimming pool inside. It is very small though, but it has a Jacuzzi too.

After checking in, it was back to cycling, and this time around Hoi An Ancient Town. The day was so hot, and I think I had a good tan that day. I brought a hat, but it keeps flying off as I cycled.

Hoi An Ancient Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The number of foreigners were overwhelmingly large that I did not feel like I was in Vietnam. Plus, the place was so commercialised with so many cafes, restaurants and hotels.

To enter the old buildings in the Ancient Town, one has to pay VND120,000 (USD6 / RM18) per person. The ticket entitles one to enter five attractions: one museum (out of 4), one old house (out of 3), one assembly hall (out of 3), the handicraft workshop (and traditional music show) or the traditional theater, and either the Japanese Covered Bridge or the Quan Cong Temple. I wondered why they only limit the foreigners to visit one out of each. Well, I figured out why as soon as I stepped into 2 places. The architecture was closely similar.

Before entering in these attractions, we cycled looking for a chicken rice shop to have lunch. Finally, we found the market. Now, the market is the best place to visit in a town. You have food, and you can see local stuff. So, we parked opposite the market. Lots of allocated spaces for parking.

I am sure if I have some photo editor software, this photo will look gorgeous. Now, you must think - What is the significance of this photo? Well, no significance at all, but it has a charm of its own.

The market. It is a long market by the way.

We ordered a plate of spring rolls from a random stall, which I do not remember the price. It could be VND10,000. The stall owner was helping us to roll the fried roll inside the paper rice.

Why did we decide to have chicken rice? Okay, sometimes my English may go haywire a bit. Please don't judge my grammar. I promise you, I can speak English. So, why chicken rice, you ask? It is because the night before, we were walking and my friends saw this chicken rice stall, and the aroma of the rice was so fragrant. Hence, our urge to give it a try.

Our plate of chicken rice is made up of the rice of course, thin strips of chicken, strips of papaya and mint leaves. I love the papaya strips. I have no idea which part of the papaya is that because it is white in colour. Price - VND30,000.

So, we thought our chicken rice was not enough. We decide to have a plate of chicken - VND150,000 (USD7.50 / RM22.50). Bad decision. The chicken is so tough. I tried one and never took the second time. My friend said that this chicken has 6-pack muscles. But I love the tamarind powder and black pepper that came with the chicken.

Fresh fruit drink - avocado on the left and passion fruit on the right for VND20,000 (USD1 / RM3) each.

The other part of the market that sells dried stuff.

After lunch, we visited the 1st attraction - old house, and we chose Tan Ky Old House (as advised by a website). We were provided with a map of the Ancient Town, and thank goodness, I have friends with excellent map-reading skills. So, it was pretty easy to find the places to go to. In the House, there was a tour officer who explains to us on the history of the House. This Old House shows how the houses in Hoi An look in the olden days.

Hoi An gets flooded easily. Look at the height of the water. In 2011, the flood was at shoulder level, and 200 people stayed in this house, because this house is made of teak wood and is very durable.

The only house that has writings which is drawn as birds.

Each old house has an open area in the middle.

The architecture in the houses of Hoi An is influenced by Japanese - 3 columns (earth, Heaven, human). I wish I can tell you where is the 3 columns. Maybe 6 columns is because they multiplied the 3. There is Chinese architecture too which can be seen on the rooftop. The way the tiles are arranged in the yin and yang manner - convex and concave manner. 

Old houses has 2 "eyes" because the house is considered a member. This also applies to boats, and boats are painted with eyes too.

The end of Tan Ky House leads us to the river.

Tan Ky Old House completed. Next attraction is the Assembly Hall. We passed by Morning Glory restaurant, a famous place where we are going to have our dinner that night.