Hoi An: the most BEAUTIFUL city in Vietnam? (the City of Lanterns)

Hi, we're Jordana and Grant from Shot in the Dark Travel. Come join us on our epic adventures around Southeast Asia. This time we're in the amazing Hoi An, the city of lanterns. We'll show you our really nice and super affordable hotel, then we'll explore the incredible old town and have a magical boat ride down the river. All before going to possibly our favorite restaurant in the whole of Vietnam. You will not want to miss this. Hello all, here we are in Da Nang and we're on our way to Hoi An. We've just flown in from Hanoi, so we're gonna get a lift to our hotel. Accommodation we've got. Yeah, so we're at the TNT Villa and I can't remember the price, so I'll put it on the on the screen in a sec. Really nice, again, very nice, there's a private bathroom. That's for me and your mother to get in. Lovely, just put it on over here. Towels have been from like little elephants I assume, yeah, they're like quite cute. Bed's big as well, isn't it? This is a nice big bed, isn't it? Yeah. Looking out onto the pool, it's really nice. So I think it looks like the restaurant must be in that bit under there. Pool here, I'm guessing there's like a bit of a bar area outside. Mum's over in a wet room. And an unwanted guest. So we're gonna have a journey to town, the old town, have a look at the lanterns and what have you. Yeah, yeah, down at the river should be nice. We're all very excited about Hoi An, so I think given we've literally just got here, we thought even though we're tired, if we'd have to at least have a quick look around. We were looking at the menu and just nothing really jumped out at us and I just thought, do you know what? I'm a bit tired, some comfort food, I'll have a pizza. Mum, so what have you got here? Chicken noodle soup. Oh, that's good technique, he knows what he's doing. Now this does that. He's like rolling me on, like he's drunk, he's on cigarettes. Oh, he's got his white t-shirt on. Gary's got some sort of wrapper that you make yourself. So it's our first full day in Hoi An and yeah, we've slept well, we've had a lovely breakfast. The sun is now shining, it's not raining. Just thought I'd give you like a quick little view of our pool and like the little seating area outside of our hotel. It's super, super cute, lots of like fruit trees growing. So we've been asking like, oh, what's this fruit? What's this fruit? But it's been so nice in this hotel so far. They've literally done everything possible that they could for us. It's been really, really nice. But yeah, I'll just give you a quick look. You've got like this little cute little area here and we've got this gorgeous, gorgeous pool that we haven't had a chance to get in yet. We're hoping to go on after we've had some lunch and we come back from exploring. So far, this hotel is absolutely gorgeous, like really, really nice, quite cheap as well. And yeah, this is where we sat for breakfast, which was really nice. I'll show you breakfast tomorrow morning and it's literally a five minute walk from everything. Janet's hurt her foot, so we're gonna try and keep it easy today. Have a really nice, relaxed one. But we're just off to the bridge now and then we're gonna get some lunch. This is the Japanese bridge that we stood in front of. It's supposed to represent a Japanese monster called Nemazu. Yeah, it's actually featured on one of the notes, the 20,000 dong note. So if you can see that, if you can. Yep. This is the bridge behind us. It's called the Japanese bridge because it was built by Japanese businessmen, Japanese traders in the 1600s. Just looking on a bit like me and Janet. Lovely watermelon juice, new favourite drink. So we're just having some drinks in BQ and as you can see, it's just along the river there. We've just been to a shop, just got a few bits of tea. So despite having a suitcase that's so full she physically can't close it, Jordana's found one of the shops that sells clothes and she's bought two dresses. No, a dress and a skirt. For me, that's the same thing. Yeah, not quite sure why when you've got so many clothes you can't close, literally can't close your bag, that we're buying more. But, oh well. Thank you, you got my jacket. I'll never understand. After exploring Old Town, we went back to the room to freshen up. I put my new dress on and we headed to the river. So we're just milling around on a boat on the river Hoi in Hoi An and we're having a lovely time looking at all the lanterns. Yeah, so there's loads of lanterns in Hoi An, especially down by the river area. It's one of the first things you'll notice. And apparently the Japanese traders in the 15 and 1600s brought the lanterns with them for good luck. And then all the locals noticed that the Japanese traders had these lanterns so they started copying it also to try and get good luck. And then the tradition has just taken off since then. So now, basically the entire town at night is just covered with these brightly lit lanterns that look amazing. It looks so cool, doesn't it? It's so beautiful. Like, it's definitely a must do if you're in Vietnam. Here's to happiness and healthiness. Hoi An is an incredibly beautiful place. But at night time, when the sun goes down and the lanterns are lit, it really is absolutely breathtaking. You definitely won't regret coming and seeing it for yourself. So we're having our food tonight at the Antara, or Antarara. I'll put it on screen, I've probably butchered it. Antarara Hotel, which is just by the river if you can see. But we're over on the east side of Hoi An. So the crazy bit of Hoi An that's really busy is back over this side around the river, where over on the quiet side, there's just a few resorts and hotels. So far, it seems nice around here and the food looks amazing. We've gone for the summer rolls, which I think have beef and prawn in it, which is different. And then we've also gone for the crab wonton. Is it a thumbs up on the wonton? Oh, two thumbs up. Two thumbs up! So I don't know, what's the summer roll like? So nice, really, really nice, yeah. Right, well I ain't had any yet, but it sounds like this is a recommendation to come to Antarara. So after the starters that were absolutely tremendous, the mains have just come. So what have you got here, mum and dad? I've got honey chicken with lemongrass. And dad, what have you got? Caramelised pork. He's already digged in, he couldn't wait until I got my video. And then Geordie, what have you got? So I've got grilled prawns with honey and garlic and some fried rice. They look good. What have you got, granny? And I've got some pork ribs that are there. That are there. So we've just finished our food at Anantara that I've googled how to pronounce. So I'm getting it right now and it was so good. Right, I'm going to go around everyone in person. Giordano, what did you think? Chef's kiss. Mum and dad? Best meal so far, best meal, really good food. Yeah, best meal, it was really good. All I can say is the billy pork, caramelised billy pork was marvellous, really good. For people outside of England, it doesn't get any better than Marks and Spencer's food. So I would say it's well worth a visit to Anantara. The decor's really nice, the vibes are really nice, the wine's good and the food has been absolutely spectacular. This is the best food I've had easily since we've been in Vietnam, by far. Cheers. Cheers Anantara. We're currently in, what's it called, The Curb? The Curb is next door to our hotel. We like it in here, don't we? We do. The cocktails are cheap and they're tasty and the beer's nice. What does that mean? How are you? I mean, to me. How are you? Change, Vietnamese. Are you? Yeah. But... Cut. We've really enjoyed our first couple of days in Hoi An. We've absolutely loved it and we can really see why this is such a popular tourist destination. To see what else we get up to in the rest of our time in Hoi An, make sure you check out our next video and please remember to like and subscribe.