We spent a couple mornings running around Hoi An (more on that later) getting custom-made clothing and shoes, eating delicious food, and trying not to be killed by oncoming motorbikes (IYKYK). That was fun and all, but the real star for Hoi An was taking a ride in the Coconut Boats through the Bay Mau Coconut Forest. I’ll share all the details here, as well as how to book a ride for yourself – in case you ever find yourself in Hoi An.
Our Boat Ride through Bay Mau Coconut Forest in Hoi An
I originally heard about the Basket Boats (which are made from Bamboo, but are sometimes known as “Coconut Boats” because of their shape) when I was looking through Get Your Guide for things to do near Da Nang. I knew we were going to be visiting Hoi An at some point to do some shopping, but I was excited to find something that our entire family would enjoy.
Originally I had planned to book a ride through Get Your Guide (we had booked a few things through them already which I’ll share in later posts), but then our trips to Hoi An ended up being a little more spontaneous, so we never got around to actually booking something. After spending way too much money on custom-made clothes and shoes, we were up for another adventure before returning to the hotel to swim. So we caught a Grab over to the Coconut Boats, hoping they’d have room for our large group.
We arrived to a line of different businesses who all do basket boat tours. Our driver parked at a specific one – our only guess is that he is somehow affiliated with that particular company or he gets something in return for referring us – and we didn’t have any complaints since we didn’t know the difference between any of them. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we were bombarded with workers in bright yellow shirts trying to sell us a ride.
We were told that we would need two boats for our family (normally they only allow three people per boat, but because we had some “small people” we could fit four in one boat) and that they would cost 800,000 VND ($33.92) per boat for a 45 minute ride. I wasn’t sure how that price compared to Get Your Guide, but honestly we were already there, so we went with it.
Our guides didn’t really speak any English, but they were so funny. They would often say “lots of babies” when referring to our family. There were MANY boats on the water that day, and each time a boat would come up close to us, one of our guides would tell them that we had five kids – and then the ooh’s and aww’s and picture-taking would start. We were making all kinds of friends with random people in other boats and it was hard not to feel like straight-up celebrities.
Of course the attention is kind of fun, if I’m being completely honest. But it also gets exhausting after a while. We were stared at everywhere we went in Vietnam – just as we are stared at anytime we venture further from post in Korea. Usually it doesn’t bother me, but occasionally it gets to be mentally exhausting. Because, let’s be honest, usually when we think people are paying attention to us, they’re not. But throw a blonde family-of-seven into a country in Asia… and they actually ARE being watched constantly. I’ve actually had to discuss this in therapy – that I feel like I’m being watched under a microscope and judged for everything I do. And that has helped a ton. For the most part, I just laugh about it, acknowledge that this is our life for now, and move on with whatever we’re doing.
And I should caveat that with this: everyone has more or less been absolutely lovely in regards to our family. Rarely has anyone said anything that seemed blatantly unkind – although sometimes the comments we get are pretty blunt. Like when one of the butlers at our hotel asked me if my body was okay after having five kids. Ha! He wasn’t being unkind (and there have been many Koreans who have asked me the same question) – he was honestly curious. And so I laughed and told him that I’m perfectly healthy and functioning and that I’m very tired.
We were amazed at how the guides rowed the boats. You could tell they have been doing this for some time, and I was amazed at the amount of strength that it would take to do this day-in and day-out. Honestly, their method of rowing made absolutely no sense to me – rowing side to side, as opposed to how you would row in a canoe or kayak – but then again having round boats also makes no sense to me, so who am I to question?
Not only were these guides expert rowers, but everyone on the water made the environment so much fun. The air was filled with laughing and ooh’s and aww’s and cheering for the man who was fishing off of his boat. There was a boat where three men were singing karaoke loudly, and the men with the “spinning boats” were cranking “Gangnam Style” at full volume. It was fun and exciting and energizing and completely perfect.
Our whole family (besides H because she couldn’t have cared less about any of it) took turns on the spinning boats (which cost us 100,000 VND – or about $4.24 – each) and I regretted my decision to participate almost immediately. Spinning and I don’t mesh well and I spent the rest of the boat ride feeling nauseous. Still, the kids loved the spinning and it was fun making that memory with them.
After our boat ride, we got some fresh coconuts (I acquired a taste for coconut water while in Vietnam), as well as mangos at the mini café run by the hosts of the boat rides. After the adventure, we were definitely ready to head back to the hotel to rest and swim.
Overall, the basket boat ride was my favorite thing we did during our time in Vietnam (aside from all the relaxing and swimming, that is). It was fun for the entire family and a must-do if you are ever in Hoi An!
’til next time…
Ash
How to take a ride in a basket boat in Hoi An
You can book a tour through Get Your Guide or you can simply just show up! We literally just found a tour on Get Your Guide, looked up the meetup point, and put that as our drop-off location in Grab. The cost and duration of a ride will vary depending on how and where you book a tour. If you book one through Get Your Guide, I’ve seen them as low as $8 per person, although the listing that I linked currently has them priced at $12.52. If you show up without any kind of booking, then the price is kind of up in the air. When we checked out the same tour we had taken after getting back to our apartment, it seemed we overpaid by about $2 per person. Yes, it can get annoying to be charged more simply because we didn’t know better, but in the grand scheme of things paying $14 total over what we “should” have paid wasn’t going to break the bank.