Hoi An attractions

Cantonese Assembly Hall

Address: 176 Tran Phu St, Hoi An

Built in 1885, this hall is quite ornate and colorful. All of the building materials were completed in China, brought here, and then reassembled. The center garden sports a fountain with a dragon made of chipped pottery, the centerpiece. Inside, look for the statues depicting scenes from famous Cantonese operas and, in the rooms to each side, the ancestral tablets of generations past.

Central Market

Location: At Nguyen Hue and Tran Phu St., along the Thu Bon River, Hoi An

If you see one Vietnamese market, make it this one, by the river on the southeast side of the city. There are endless stalls of exotic foodstuffs and services, and a special big shed for silk tailoring at the east end (these tailors charge much less than the ones along Le Loi). Check out the ladies selling spices — curries, chili powders, cinnamon, peppercorns, and especially saffron — at prices that are a steal in the West. But don’t buy from the first woman you see; the stuff gets cheaper and cheaper the deeper you go into the market. Walk out to the docks to see activity there (best early in the morning), but be careful of fish flying through the air, and stand back from the furious bargaining (best before 7am).

Fukian Assembly Hall

Address: 46 Tran Phu St, Hoi An

This is the grandest of the assembly halls, built in 1697 by Chinese merchants from Fukian Province. It is a showpiece of classical Chinese architecture, at least after you pass the first gate, which was added in 1975. It’s loaded with animal themes: The fish in the mosaic fountain symbolizes scholarly achievement, the unicorn flanking the ascending stairs symbolizes wisdom, the dragon symbolizes power, the turtle symbolizes longevity, and the phoenix symbolizes nobility. The main temple is dedicated to Thien Hau, goddess of the sea, on the main altar. To the left of her is Thuan Phong Nhi, a goddess who can hear ships in a range of thousands of miles, and on the right is Thien Ly Nhan, who can see them. Go around the altar for a view of a fantastic detailed miniature boat. There are two altars to the rear of the temple: the one on the left honoring a god of prosperity and the one on the right honoring a goddess of fertility. The goddess of fertility is often visited by local couples hoping for children. She is flanked by 12 fairies or midwives, one responsible for each of a baby’s functions: smiling, sleeping, eating, and so forth.

Hoi An Cathedral

Location: Just north of the town center on the corner of Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Trung To, Hoi An

The only spectacular thing about this Catholic cathedral is its resilience. Originally built in 1903, the structure was rebuilt in 1964 with the influx of greater numbers of Catholics seeking refuge from persecution in the North. There’s a small orphanage out back, and this stalwart working cathedral ministers to more than an estimated 1,000 patricians in the area. Sunday Mass – delivered in Vietnamese – is a well-attended affair. If you go, have a look at the cool contemporary stained glass depicting the early French missionaries alighting in Hoi An.

House of Hoi An Traditional Handicraft

Address: 41 Le Loi St, Hoi An

This is basically a silk shop with an interesting gimmick: On the first floor you can see both a 17th-century silk loom and a working, machine-powered cotton one. On the second, you can see where silk comes from: There are trays of silkworms feeding, then a rack of worms incubating, and then a tub of hot water where the pupae’s downy covering is rinsed off and then pulled, strand by strand, onto a large skein. It’s cool. They have the best selection of silks, both fine and raw, in many colors and weights good for clothing and for home interiors.

House of Hoi An Traditional Handicraft

Address: 41 Le Loi St, Hoi An

Miss Vy’s School of Cooking

Address: 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An

Tel: 0510/910-489

Website: http://hoianhospitality.com

Recently relocated to newly built Morning Glory restaurant, the cookery school is just your chance to meet Hoi An’s diva, the stylish and effusive Ms. Vy, who nearly has the market cornered on good dining in Hoi An. Come find out her secrets. The tour starts early with a visit to the market, then returns to the restaurant by cyclo for a morning of cooking. The payoff is eating your creations.

Museum of History and Culture

Address: 7 Nguyen Hue St, Hoi AnThis tottering building erected in 1653 houses works that cross 2,000 years of Hoi An history from Cham relics to ancient ceramics and photos of local architecture. There are English explanations, but they are scanty. If you’re seeing only one museum, make it the Museum of Trade Ceramics . One interesting tidbit: The name Hoi An literally means “water convergence” and “peace.”

Museum of Trade Ceramics

Address: 80 Tran Phu St, Hoi An

Located in a traditional house, this museum describes the origins of Hoi An as a trade port and displays its most prominent trade item. Objects are from the 13th through 17th centuries and include Chinese and Thai works as well. While many of the exhibits are in fragments, the real beauty of the place is that the very thorough descriptions are in English, giving you a real sense of the town’s origins and history. Furthermore, the architecture and renovations of the old house are thoroughly explained, and you’re free to wander through its two floors, courtyard, and anteroom. After all the scattered explanations at the other historic houses, you’ll finally get a sense of what Hoi An architecture is all about.

The Old House of Phun Hung

Address: 4 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, Hoi An

This private house, constructed in 1780, is two floors of combined architectural influences. The first floor’s central roof is four-sided, showing Japanese influence, and the upstairs balcony has a Chinese rounded “turtle shell” roof with carved beam supports. The house has weathered many floods. In 1964, during a particularly bad bout, its third floor served as a refuge for other town families. The upstairs is outfitted with a trap door for moving furniture rapidly to safety. You might be shown around by Ms. Anh, who claims to be an eighth-generation member of the family. Tour guides at every house make such claims; however, like at many of Hoi An’s old houses, the family really does seem to live here.

The Sa Huynh Culture Museum

Address: 149 Tran Phu St, Hoi An

After local farmers around Hoi An dug up some strange-looking pottery, archaeologists identified 53 sites where a pre-Cham people, called the Sa Huynh, buried their dead in ceramic jars. The two-room display here includes some of the burial jars, beaded ornaments, pottery vessels, and iron tools and weapons that have been uncovered. English descriptions are sketchy. Upstairs, the little-visited Museum of the Revolution includes such intriguing items as the umbrella “which Mr. Truong Munh Luong used for acting a fortune-teller to act revolution from 1965 to 1967.” Huh? This is for connoisseurs only.

The Tran Family Home and Chapel

Address: 21 Le Loi, Hoi An

In 1802 a civil service mandarin named Tran Tu Nhuc built a family home and chapel to worship his ancestors. A favorite of Viet Emperor Gia Long, he was sent to China as an ambassador, and his home reflects his high status. Elegantly designed with original Chinese antiques and royal gifts such as swords, two parts of the home are open to the public: a drawing room and an ancestral chapel. One roof tile has been replaced with transparent glass, allowing a single shaft of light to slice through the chapel and onto the altar in the morning. The house does a splendid job of conveying all that is exotic and interesting about these people and their period. The drawing room has three sections of sliding doors: the left for men, the right for women, and the center, open only at Tet and other festivals, for dead ancestors to return home. The ancestral altar in the inner room has small boxes behind it containing relics and a biography of the deceased; their pictures hang, a little spookily, to the right of the altar. A 250-year-old book with the family history resides on a table to the right of the altar. Beside it is a small bowl, containing yin and yang coins, meant to bring good luck. Give them a toss, and if they land one yin and one yang side up, you are on your way to prosperity. I got it on my first try, but the guide will give you three chances. In back of the house are a row of plants, each buried with the placenta and umbilical cord of a family child, so that the child will never forget its home. As if it could.