Hoi An - Buffalo and basket boat ride

A 7 hour train ride + taxi and we are in Hoi An, a cute little village famous for its lanterns at night time and also cheap tailors. Richard, Frank and Paige just so happened to be heading this way too so we spend another few days hanging out with part of our cave crew.

The highlight of our 3 days here (aside from the 35c beers!) is most definitely the buffalo and basket boat tour we decided to take!

Jack of Jack Tran tours pick us up in his minivan and we discover its only the 4 of us on the excursion- awesome! We firstly head out to the rice fields for the buffalo ride. Suki was a bit apprehensive about the buffalo ride at first, worried that the buffalo would be mistreated. When we get there all fears are alleviated when we see the farmer with his buffalo- they clearly have a special bond and you can tell he loves his buffalo very much. We take turns riding the buffalo (Xe is his name) firstly on land and then in the water. Xe is super gentle and lovable. Trav, to everyones surprise, demonstrates some advanced buffalo riding skills, including being able to jump on unassisted. The farmer decides to play a trick on Trav and leads the buffalo to a pot hole in the water so Trav almost falls in :-)

Next we head to the docks where we see the dragon boats getting maintenance done, then its time to try out the basket boats! The basket boats are basically big round woven tubs, which the fisherman use to check their catches. We head to the water and there's 4 boats waiting for us. Then the unexpected fun begins! 4 guys rock up (cousins of Jack Tran) and jump in the basket boats and begin their "Gangnam style" basket boat routine- its hilarious! The boats are spinning and rocking in the water while the guys dance and do tricks. Next we hop on board a boat each and join in the fun, ending with a race to shore which Frank wins (the promise of free beer spurred him on).

Off to Jack Trans house afterwards for homemade spring rolls and a beer- a great morning to end our last day in Hoi An :-)Read more