Hoi An - Full moon festival

I knew that every month on the 15th day of the lunar calendar, there was a full moon festival in Hoi An, where in the old town no electric lights or motorbikes were allowed. As a result, the old town is lit by candle and multicolored lanterns, creating a romantic ambiance. Romantic, yes: Vietnamese people come from all around the country for this special night and I swear I’ve never seen so many Vietnamese couples holding hands (including on Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi. If you know this bridge, you know what I mean. Love Bridge). Romantic, no: because there are thousands of people in the streets.

So, this is only once a month, and even though we had not planned it at all, we were lucky enough to be in Hoi An when in happened.

The streets of Hoi An were riddled with massive crowds walking around, holding hands, and with kids dressed as dragons playing drums. From what I gathered, the kids (boys only) got in the local shops or restaurants and danced around in Dragon outfits until the shop owner gave them a little money. It was fun to be around for this special night – actually it was two nights, the second one even more intense than the first. Oustide of the “pedestrian” area (in quote marks because only pedestrian on this instance) streets were gridlocked with bikes, not able to move even one inch. We were happy to have left ours at the hotel.