After a cloudy start this morning, the sun returned early afternoon, so we decided to take the hotel bikes out again and explore a little more by peddle power.

The ride into the old town is only 10mins and is pretty much a straight road. The only hazards are the other road users, with over taking & under taking often occurring at the same time. Added to this there are no traffic lights, so at junctions it’s just a case of who is the bravest and has the loudest horn and the confidence to just keep going!!

Once we hit the crowds in the old town, we quickly found a cafe for a drink and an opportunity to people watch. With the advent of social media, places like Hoi A with its quaint historic cafe buildings are a perfect backdrop for budding YouTube & Tic Tok users who knock out endless photos. So it was today, as within 30mins we watched tens of mainly young South Koreans take hundreds of photos in front of our cafe in every pose you can think of. Funny old & new world….

After the liquid refreshment we got back on the bikes and followed the river past an array of bars and restaurants with hanging colourful flowers. It truly is a beautiful place.

It’s very difficult to cycle around Hoi A without feeling the need to stop and take it all in. So it proved for us and we decided to retire again to our favourite little roadside bar opposite the river and the taxi cycle hub. No sooner had we sat down, the bar man had already remembered our order from the last visit (never a good sign!) and two Saigon beers were placed in front of us. Does it get much better than this?!

The break from the bikes was only short and we were soon back on tour, passing the throng of cycle taxis all laid out in a line, ready for the off.

Out of the centre, back towards our hotel, we headed to the paddy fields to catch the sunset at an aptly named restaurant called Roving Chill-house.

We sat perched just above the rice fields with unspoilt views looking out towards the setting sun.

The way of life here doesn’t appear to have changed that much for hundreds of years. We watched a lady fertilise the rice crop by hand sprinkling what looked like salt over the green maturing crop to keep the pests away.

As the food arrived it became clear that the residing clouds would hamper our view of the setting sun, so instead we settled in with our veggie garden food and just enjoyed being in the serene countryside surroundings.

As the darkness descended we returned to our bikes for the mile return cycle to the hotel. Another day of enjoying what’s on our door step.

In a couple of days we will be back on the road, returning to a more mobile existence as we ebb our way up the coast to Cat Ba Island and a return to Hanoi in the early part of August.