The morning market in Hoi An was already drowning in golden light by the time I arrived, the kind that makes everything look like it's been dipped in honey. I wound my way through narrow aisles where vendors balanced on low plastic stools, their hands moving in practiced rhythms—trimming herbs, weighing rice, folding banana leaves into perfect triangles.
An older woman with a conical hat tilted back on her head caught my eye and motioned me over with a smile that revealed a single gold tooth. "Xin chào," she said, then switched to English. "You eat?"
Before I could answer, she was spooning fragrant bánh bèo into a small bowl—delicate steamed rice cakes topped with dried shrimp and crispy pork cracklings. I sat on the stool beside her, our knees nearly touching, and took my first bite. The texture was cloud-soft, the flavors hitting in waves: savory, slightly sweet, with bursts of umami from the shrimp.
"Good?" she asked, watching me closely.
"So good," I said, and meant it.
She nodded, satisfied, and turned back to her work, her hands already reaching for the next customer. But for those few minutes, I wasn't a tourist. I was just someone sitting beside her, sharing breakfast in the morning light, part of the rhythm of the market rather than an observer of it.
Later, walking along the Thu Bon River, I thought about how the best travel moments are rarely the ones you plan for. They're the invitations you accept, the small gestures that become memories, the times you stop moving and simply sit still long enough to let a place reveal itself.
The ancient town glowed in the afternoon heat, its yellow buildings reflected in the green water. Somewhere behind me, a vendor called out prices in a sing-song voice. A motorbike puttered past, carrying a family of four and what looked like a week's worth of groceries. I stood at the river's edge, still tasting shrimp and pork on my tongue, thinking: this is what I came for. Not the lanterns or the tailors or the UNESCO designation. This. The moment when a stranger shares her food and, for an instant, you're home.
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