Day 29! Sometimes it’s fun to just let your inner child be free with a bunch of adult strangers 🤪

For some reason my body is in the mode of waking up early even after a late night out, but luckily I can just relax when I get up!

I had my free breakfast at the hostel and then grabbed a guitar and noodled away while swinging in a hammock! I’m not sure there’s a better way to start the morning!

This hostel having a guitar has been such a treat and it’s been really fun being in an environment where people appreciate it and where others play as well!

After a little while, one of my friends from yesterday, Colin from the US, said he was going into Old Town! Seeing how I’d been at the hostel for 2 days now and hadn’t gone into town I thought it’d be fun to tag along!

So we hopped into the hostels free shuttle and set out for the morning!

We wandered around for a bit through the busy streets and made our way to find a thrift shop that was suggested to us.

We didn’t end up finding anything we liked… or fit us.

So we went to look for food!

Colin had been into town a few times and had found a restaurant featured by Anthony Bourdain!

We ended up chowing down on some scrumptious Banh Mi on the balcony of the restaurant!

And as I’m writing this post, I’m realizing I had a lot of Banh Mi today 😂

After lunch we wandered around more of the old town.

The town is full of markets and has a bridge over a canal which fills up with lights and boats at night!

We had to hurry back to the hostel because a big group of us decided to meet up at the beach around 2pm to hang out and release our inner child.

I don’t have many pictures from everyone hanging out (I know they’re floating around but I was trying to stay present and off my phone), but this is a fun candid photo of me hanging out with my new friends Jack and Chloe!

We had a group of around 30 of us splashing in the waves, throwing balls around, collecting shells, and listening and dancing to music!

It was such a wholesome afternoon and we were met with blue skies which turned into an amazing sunset!

We all went back to the hostel to shower and get ready for the night!

After I showered, Jack and Chloe were heading out to the old town to wander around, eat, and see what the town had in store and they invited me along!

So I hopped into the Grab with them and set off for a very fun night!

We started off our night getting Banh Mi Queen, which is a street stand everyone raves about in Hoi An!

I wasn’t sure if it was better than the one I had earlier in the day but it was still insanely good and cheap (30,000 Dong, just over $1).

We took our Banh Mi for the road and made our way into the hustle and bustle of the packed old town!

The vibe of the town was insanely different than during the day!

The whole town was lit up with colorful lights, the river was full of boats, and there were colorful lanterns floating down the water.

During full moons in Hoi A there’s somehow even more boats and more floating lanterns which I’m sure is an amazing sight to see!

While walking around I saw someone walking by with a KU shirt on and you know I had to give him a big ROCK CHALK and a high five!

We ended up chatting for a few minutes and it turns out he’s a professor in the medical school! Such a small world and really made my night!

Hoi An has an area that’s notorious for club promoters.

We ended up chatting with them for a while and just joking around with them and trying to pry details of their lives out of them.

They were all very funny and nice guys but eventually we found one that gave us a good enough deal for beers so we went to their bar to enjoy some cheap beers to cap off the night out!

Jack and Chloe wanted to go get a massage so I decided to head back to the hostel. While I was waiting for my Grab back home I ran into a few other friends from the hostel and we made our way back together!

To finish off the night I got one final Banh Mi from the hostel.

I’ll probably take a break from Banh Mi’s for a few days, but I’m a huge fan of them, especially for how cheap they are!

It was hands down a great day! Something I’m really trying to work on is to not feel like I have to be go go go all the time.

I think today was a good way to remind myself that it’s okay to just act like a kid on the beach with a bunch of strangers. I don’t need to be hustling to the next city or to the next sight. I have a lot of time at my disposal and I need to enjoy it while I can!

I’m not exactly sure how much longer I’ll stay in Hoi An, but it’s reminding me a lot of Pai, Thailand which is a really nice thing. But you’ll know as soon as I do what my plans are!

See you tomorrow!

– Elie