Due to the variety of shopping that can be done here, Hoi An is a very touristy town. When we came to Vietnam we wanted to experience only the most authentic of places and experiences so instead of staying overnight we went for a day visit from Hanoi which was about an hours drive.

Although full of tourists, I absolutely adored Hoi An with its colourful streets and even though the place was very busy with people and vehicles, it has a sense of calmness and safety, but of course with any place, you need to be careful of pick pocketers who tend to target tourists in this area.

Hoi An is honestly every shoppers dream offering a huge range of fresh produce, homewares, jewellery, bags, clothing, footwear, electronics and even businesses where you can design your own clothing and footwear and they will be made from scratch and usually are ready to be picked up the same day!

As we were walking along a man came up to us and asked us to follow him to his family's shop for us to have a look at and there would be cold water (even though mum was hoping for a cold beer!) 

We followed this man having no idea where he was taking us but being the spontaneous bunch that we are enjoyed seeing the bright sights of this beautiful town. We were eventually taken down to the edge of a waterway where a a lady was sitting in a small timber boat. We were gestured by the man to hop onto the boat who would take us on the final leg to this shop.

THERE'S NO MISTAKE THAT THERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF SHOPPING TO BE HAD IN VIETNAM, ALMOST EVERY CITY AND TOWN HAS SHOPS AND MARKETS ON EVERY CORNER OF THE STREET BUT IF YOU'RE A PASSIONATE SHOPAHOLIC THAN HOI AN IS YOUR GO TO PLACE!

I have to say I felt sorry for this woman who had to paddle four fully grown adults by her bare hands. There was no motor on this boat, it was simply her and two wooden oars! She didn't understand English so we couldn't ask her where we were being taken but it was nice just to cruise along the water and look at all the boats and shops as we went by.

After about 20 minutes on the boat we were greeted once again with the man who took us to the boat in the first place and turns out we could have actually just walked along the street but he showed us the boat instead and of course, this was no free ride, so we paid a small amount to the woman and thanked her then continued following this man until we finally reached his family's shop which made and sold footwear. 

We decided to get a pair of shoes made up for each of us and and picked them up only just hours later. It's pretty cool how you can design the whole shoe from scratch with everything from style, colour and material!

With all our walking around we were feeling a bit peckish and with so much food on offer we were absolutely spoilt for choice! After eating a lot of Vietnamese cuisine we felt like having some comfort food like garden salads, meats, rice and fries and they were delicious!