One of the things we love to do whilst travelling is interacting with local people, hearing their stories and getting to know their way of life. Sometimes though it can feel hard to break down the barriers of culture, language and suspicion that can prevent us from really getting below the surface of a country or region. Taking a Hoi An Tour was the perfect way to gain access to people and stories...

VietNamNet Bridge - Many farmers in Hoi An have earned incomes of nearly VND100 million ($5,000) a year by providing buffaloes to serve tourists. Mr. Le Viet Nhien, a farmer in Cam Chau Ward Recognizing that foreign tourists might have an interest in being "farmers for a day", Mr. Le Viet Nhien, a farmer in Cam Chau Ward, bought 12 buffaloes in 2010. His intention was to use them for both agr...

In my previous post, I talked about the first "agritourism" or "ecotour" tour we did during out recent, month-long trip through Vietnam (thanks to Vietnam Central Coastal Tourism!): Wet Rice Farming with Water Buffalo, and how awesome it was! The second one, also with Jack Tran's Ecotours, was Fishing and 'Palm Paradise', and it was great fun, as well! Elisse casts her fishing net! As...

A foreign tourist walks a water buffalo through a paddy field in Cam Thanh Commune, Hoi An TownIn December 2011, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg created a buzz in both local and international media outlets with a photo showing him riding a buffalo in Vietnam's famous resort town of Sa Pa. He was reported to have hired nine buffalos from a local family so he and his friends could ride them a...