18/03
We arrive after a hard night in the bus, we walk about town with our big bags to find an hotel, we book the Hoa Binh hotel, a simple hotel, a nice room but noisy, on the street, above the reception area. That will do for today, we go to rest, as Val is not too well and I'm also pretty tired despite a bit of sleep. We go for lunch, walk around the town, Hoi An s an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port. We walk around and the city has a distinct Chinese atmosphere with low, tile-roofed houses and narrow streets; it is truly beautiful...People also visit for the numerous art shops and tailors, who produce made-to-measure clothes for a fraction of the western price!!! We find one too as we needs to get some clothes made for our friends wedding in Sri Lanka, it is fun to find fabric, bargain like mad and think of models....now cross fingers, we will get some clothes on time and with a good fit!!! We go for dinner in the port, and it is great to chill out....
19/03
After breakfast, we go for a stroll in the market, the heat is hard to bear already so we sat by shopping around for caps and t-shirt!! I end up buying a bag crumpler and manage to upset the shopkeeper with my hard bargaining!!! We go to do some fitting at the tailor, few adjustements to make but the results are good already and so quick!!! We also go to another tailor to get some dresses made for Val, the girls there are smiley and friendly, it is refreshing....
The heat is hard so we sneak in the hotel close to ours for a swim and chilling out next to the pool, it is gerat to unwind here. Simple dinner then we walk around town, strolling through the lantern-lit streets is like walking into a fairytale. It is all the more picturesque since motor vehicles are banned from Hoi An's Old Quarter. There are so many lantern shops and unique lights in the streets, people here experiment with new shapes and materials, including lights made from hollow bamboo tubes, we both like it very much. We go to bed early as we have to wake up for 5 am as we are going on a tour...
20/03
After a very short night and a near catastrophe, we're on the mini-bus that going to take us to the My Son (pronounced me-sun) temples. It's 5.20am and we've nearly missed the van our alarm clock (or our ears) failing miserably. It does not take us more than 5 minutes to get ready, the puzzled and completely sleepy hotel portier waiting for us to get out of the room. What a mad rush...
It's a small group of 8 people. The site is considered here as the local Angkor, remains from the kingdom of Champa. We get very excited at this thought. Once at the temples, built by Cham emperors, we learn that not much is left of them. First time did a bit of work, then the American bombs finished off the job. A European archeologist even sent a letter to Nixon to end the endless bombing of the temples, at that time considered as a backline for the Viet Cong guerilla. It's a nice setting though and we peacefully walk around the little remains of what would have been an Hindu influenced splendor. The site is deserted as we're the first one in, way before the assaults of big tourist coaches. It is really worth it. In the background, the rising fog slowly unveils the 'Beautiful Mountain' (translation of My Son). It is beautiful indeed.
We gather again in the bus and go back to town. Today is sightseeing day and we buy the old town heritage building visit tickets. We visit some historical houses in the old town, dark woods everywhere, colonial houses, little temples,pagodas. All the houses were made of rare wood, decorated with lacquered boards and panels engraved with Chinese characters. Pillars were carved with ornamental designs. Hoi An emerged when Japanese and Chinese traders built a commercial district there in the 16th century and you can really feel the fusion of influences here, amazing. The original structure of some streets still remains almost intact today and you sometimes feel back in time. Tan Ky house has been owned by the same family for 7 generations, with little alterations to its original design. We then visit a couple of temples, the ceramic trade museum (the building being the attraction, not its content) and the traditional art and craft museum. It's around 1pm and everyone in Vietnam takes a big break around lunch time...but the shops are still open. It's rather fun tiptoeing in a shop in order not to wake up the shopkeeper (who by the way cannot try a forced sale on us as he's asleep!). We have some lunch rather late and go hide in our air-con'ed hotel room for a bit as it is now really hot. Dinner and off to bed. Tomorrow is an exciting day for me, I'm going to learn a bit of vietnamese cooking! Yummy!
21/03
This morning is also an early start for me. I've booked a cooking class at the Red Bridge, a well known restaurant in Hoi An. I really wanted to learn how to do good fresh spring rolls and a couple of other things...These are one of my little sin and I could eat hundreds of them. Val stays at the hotel but gets up early too. It's fitting-adjustments day for her at the tailor!
In the hot morning I go to Hai Cafe to meet up with the guide who takes us-we're a small group but very international- around the market to show us the fresh products we will use during the class and do some side business as any good guide/tout/tourism trade people all do! We then hop on a boat for a short sailing trip to the Red Bridge, located up the river in the rice paddies. We get to see fishermen skilfully and beautifully throwing the circular net in the air, some other collecting the very little shells (snails) we saw many time being sold by old ladies around town. It is a delicacy patiently savoured by the locals.
The cooking class is fun, the chef punctuating the tuition by little canny jokes. I get to meet two girls, one American, Brendy heading to Hong Kong and an Aussie on vacation. The class is fun and very interesting. Cooking our little dishes, we munch them in between two recipies. We then have a great 3 courses lunch with some fresh lemon juice. The location is beautiful, rice paddies one side, the herb garden on another, the local fishermen rowing boats on the river as a background. Time to get back and catch up with my beautiful wife around 1.30pm. She's also been very active this morning.
She went to the tailor for the fittings. As there was only a couple of things to do, the young shop assistant took her to the workshop a bit further out of town. She enjoyed the ride and chats with the witty girl who has big plans for the future. She just needs to work to finance it and wants to become a teacher. Val enjoyed meeting some girls, having an insight into the tailor trade, it was fun apparently. We talk while strolling around town, looking at the people, the kids playing on the pedestrian streets. We both notice that there are loads of kids running around throughout Vietnam. They are not ultra protected behind close doors. During our trip here we got to see many of them, free of movement, but the parents still very close but somehow withdrawn. No barrier, no tension like in Europe. Everybody seems to look after everyone else's progeniture. It is a fabulous feeling of freshness and naivity. We smile... We soon do a bit more shopping, and a pair of made-to-measure sandals later we're back at the hotel. We rest a bit before going out for dinner on the harbour, at the foodstalls. Mr Hi, table number 5, remember! table number 5!!!!! He keeps saying! We sadly pack, we liked this mustard coloured walls houses and little town a lot. Lights off, tomorrow we're back in Val's favourite bus!
22/03
Wake up early as we take the bus to Hue this morning. We go to get our free breakie in the posh sister hotel. We then get our bags and get on the bus. It is another one of the sleeper bus, more recent but the legroom is even shorter than the one we had to get to Hoi An. I am completely cramped and can't even stretch my legs. Luckily enough the journey is only 3.5 hours (for 130km!), Vietnam style. Which means once again ten stops in the middle of nowhere, a 30 mins lunch break at 10.30am which in reality is 1 hour. Anyway, we get to Hue, and as soon as the bus stops, a swarm of touts trying to sell their hotel get onboard. No real room to get off and take our bag. It is really hot today and it takes a few minutes and upset touts (I tend to be polite but reckless with them!) before we're off to our little pick of the day, Huang Hong, a little guesthouse, very cheap, but quiet, tucked in a cul-de-sac, where the air is stranglely enough quite fresh. A simple room with two double beds(!), a basic bathroom and a fan. What do you need, hey?! We go for a quick lunch and come back to the room to relax and to let the heat go down a little. It is actually around 38 degres and it is hard!!! We decide to go for a walk around 5pm to see the town but most of the old sites are inside the citadel, we stroll around, the city is busy and not so pelasant despite the lakes and river. Val feels weak tonight, dizzy and we decide to get a take away and eat in the room tonight....
23/03
We wake up early to sort out our trip to Hanoi and go and visit the citadel before the heat, it is supposed to be 38 degres today...again!! I go and find us some train tickets for this afternoon as we are not so keen on staying here for long, the city in itself has not hooked us. After a lovely breakfast on the terrace at the guesthouse, we walk to the citadel, along the Perfume river, a long walk, busy town, many scooters, the heat is already difficult to bear and we are both feeling tired ! We reach the Citadel, a city whithin the city, old ramparts, 10 km long wall where the majority of the people live...Nice to see that for once, the town even a cultural one doesn't belong to the tourists but is still a REAL town... The sights are beautiful, imperial enclosure, Chinese temples, palace, amazing pavilions, little lakes,a forbidden city for the emperor, the residences of the queen, few elephants in a garden etc etc... it feels very Chinese here again, this capital of the Nguyen Emperors. We forget the touts for 3 hours, walk around this secluded place, funny enough we catch up with a Malay guy I met during the cooking class...It is already noon and hot...we decide to head back to the guesthouse to get some food and go to the station. After a bad lunch, we check out, and let the lady from the guesthouse sort out some mortobikes for us. She ends up driving me, hard to say stable at the back of a scooter with a 20 kgs rucksack!!! We leave Hue with no regret, happy to have seen the sights, the lovely citadel but not convinced by the city, specially after magical Hoi An.
The sleeper train for Hanoi is supposed to leave at 3 pm, we wait, wait, few Westerners and many Vietnamese until 4 pm when the train appears...we discover we are not in the normal sleeper 2nd class as we wanted but in a posher coach!!!
Well actually there are no Vietnamese people here and the air con is not working...Great...after crap bus journey here comes the train journey!!!
We are both melting, asking the staff to sort out the air con, it keeps stopping...oh joy...Val talks to some English people in the luxury carriage, next to ours, it is soooo much cooler there...The staff members come to the next cabin and start smoking drinking beers and play loud music...it is getting a bit too much for Val, we paid more to avoid crazy night bus and it will take longer to reach Hanoi but we were hoping to sleep!!! Action is necessary here!!
We chat to the guy in charge of the luxury carriage and he offers us an upgrade, cash in hand of course and unofficial!!! We move to a luxury cabin, just for the two of us, a risk as we might get kicked out in the middle of the night as we have no real tickets...but will see....
Feels so much better...we go for a stroll in the train, chat to the 4 English guys next to us and finally relax...the night might be good in the end! We should reach Hanoi around 4-5 am.
We arrive after a hard night in the bus, we walk about town with our big bags to find an hotel, we book the Hoa Binh hotel, a simple hotel, a nice room but noisy, on the street, above the reception area. That will do for today, we go to rest, as Val is not too well and I'm also pretty tired despite a bit of sleep. We go for lunch, walk around the town, Hoi An s an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port. We walk around and the city has a distinct Chinese atmosphere with low, tile-roofed houses and narrow streets; it is truly beautiful...People also visit for the numerous art shops and tailors, who produce made-to-measure clothes for a fraction of the western price!!! We find one too as we needs to get some clothes made for our friends wedding in Sri Lanka, it is fun to find fabric, bargain like mad and think of models....now cross fingers, we will get some clothes on time and with a good fit!!! We go for dinner in the port, and it is great to chill out....
19/03
After breakfast, we go for a stroll in the market, the heat is hard to bear already so we sat by shopping around for caps and t-shirt!! I end up buying a bag crumpler and manage to upset the shopkeeper with my hard bargaining!!! We go to do some fitting at the tailor, few adjustements to make but the results are good already and so quick!!! We also go to another tailor to get some dresses made for Val, the girls there are smiley and friendly, it is refreshing....
The heat is hard so we sneak in the hotel close to ours for a swim and chilling out next to the pool, it is gerat to unwind here. Simple dinner then we walk around town, strolling through the lantern-lit streets is like walking into a fairytale. It is all the more picturesque since motor vehicles are banned from Hoi An's Old Quarter. There are so many lantern shops and unique lights in the streets, people here experiment with new shapes and materials, including lights made from hollow bamboo tubes, we both like it very much. We go to bed early as we have to wake up for 5 am as we are going on a tour...
20/03
After a very short night and a near catastrophe, we're on the mini-bus that going to take us to the My Son (pronounced me-sun) temples. It's 5.20am and we've nearly missed the van our alarm clock (or our ears) failing miserably. It does not take us more than 5 minutes to get ready, the puzzled and completely sleepy hotel portier waiting for us to get out of the room. What a mad rush...
It's a small group of 8 people. The site is considered here as the local Angkor, remains from the kingdom of Champa. We get very excited at this thought. Once at the temples, built by Cham emperors, we learn that not much is left of them. First time did a bit of work, then the American bombs finished off the job. A European archeologist even sent a letter to Nixon to end the endless bombing of the temples, at that time considered as a backline for the Viet Cong guerilla. It's a nice setting though and we peacefully walk around the little remains of what would have been an Hindu influenced splendor. The site is deserted as we're the first one in, way before the assaults of big tourist coaches. It is really worth it. In the background, the rising fog slowly unveils the 'Beautiful Mountain' (translation of My Son). It is beautiful indeed.
We gather again in the bus and go back to town. Today is sightseeing day and we buy the old town heritage building visit tickets. We visit some historical houses in the old town, dark woods everywhere, colonial houses, little temples,pagodas. All the houses were made of rare wood, decorated with lacquered boards and panels engraved with Chinese characters. Pillars were carved with ornamental designs. Hoi An emerged when Japanese and Chinese traders built a commercial district there in the 16th century and you can really feel the fusion of influences here, amazing. The original structure of some streets still remains almost intact today and you sometimes feel back in time. Tan Ky house has been owned by the same family for 7 generations, with little alterations to its original design. We then visit a couple of temples, the ceramic trade museum (the building being the attraction, not its content) and the traditional art and craft museum. It's around 1pm and everyone in Vietnam takes a big break around lunch time...but the shops are still open. It's rather fun tiptoeing in a shop in order not to wake up the shopkeeper (who by the way cannot try a forced sale on us as he's asleep!). We have some lunch rather late and go hide in our air-con'ed hotel room for a bit as it is now really hot. Dinner and off to bed. Tomorrow is an exciting day for me, I'm going to learn a bit of vietnamese cooking! Yummy!
21/03
This morning is also an early start for me. I've booked a cooking class at the Red Bridge, a well known restaurant in Hoi An. I really wanted to learn how to do good fresh spring rolls and a couple of other things...These are one of my little sin and I could eat hundreds of them. Val stays at the hotel but gets up early too. It's fitting-adjustments day for her at the tailor!
In the hot morning I go to Hai Cafe to meet up with the guide who takes us-we're a small group but very international- around the market to show us the fresh products we will use during the class and do some side business as any good guide/tout/tourism trade people all do! We then hop on a boat for a short sailing trip to the Red Bridge, located up the river in the rice paddies. We get to see fishermen skilfully and beautifully throwing the circular net in the air, some other collecting the very little shells (snails) we saw many time being sold by old ladies around town. It is a delicacy patiently savoured by the locals.
The cooking class is fun, the chef punctuating the tuition by little canny jokes. I get to meet two girls, one American, Brendy heading to Hong Kong and an Aussie on vacation. The class is fun and very interesting. Cooking our little dishes, we munch them in between two recipies. We then have a great 3 courses lunch with some fresh lemon juice. The location is beautiful, rice paddies one side, the herb garden on another, the local fishermen rowing boats on the river as a background. Time to get back and catch up with my beautiful wife around 1.30pm. She's also been very active this morning.
She went to the tailor for the fittings. As there was only a couple of things to do, the young shop assistant took her to the workshop a bit further out of town. She enjoyed the ride and chats with the witty girl who has big plans for the future. She just needs to work to finance it and wants to become a teacher. Val enjoyed meeting some girls, having an insight into the tailor trade, it was fun apparently. We talk while strolling around town, looking at the people, the kids playing on the pedestrian streets. We both notice that there are loads of kids running around throughout Vietnam. They are not ultra protected behind close doors. During our trip here we got to see many of them, free of movement, but the parents still very close but somehow withdrawn. No barrier, no tension like in Europe. Everybody seems to look after everyone else's progeniture. It is a fabulous feeling of freshness and naivity. We smile... We soon do a bit more shopping, and a pair of made-to-measure sandals later we're back at the hotel. We rest a bit before going out for dinner on the harbour, at the foodstalls. Mr Hi, table number 5, remember! table number 5!!!!! He keeps saying! We sadly pack, we liked this mustard coloured walls houses and little town a lot. Lights off, tomorrow we're back in Val's favourite bus!
22/03
Wake up early as we take the bus to Hue this morning. We go to get our free breakie in the posh sister hotel. We then get our bags and get on the bus. It is another one of the sleeper bus, more recent but the legroom is even shorter than the one we had to get to Hoi An. I am completely cramped and can't even stretch my legs. Luckily enough the journey is only 3.5 hours (for 130km!), Vietnam style. Which means once again ten stops in the middle of nowhere, a 30 mins lunch break at 10.30am which in reality is 1 hour. Anyway, we get to Hue, and as soon as the bus stops, a swarm of touts trying to sell their hotel get onboard. No real room to get off and take our bag. It is really hot today and it takes a few minutes and upset touts (I tend to be polite but reckless with them!) before we're off to our little pick of the day, Huang Hong, a little guesthouse, very cheap, but quiet, tucked in a cul-de-sac, where the air is stranglely enough quite fresh. A simple room with two double beds(!), a basic bathroom and a fan. What do you need, hey?! We go for a quick lunch and come back to the room to relax and to let the heat go down a little. It is actually around 38 degres and it is hard!!! We decide to go for a walk around 5pm to see the town but most of the old sites are inside the citadel, we stroll around, the city is busy and not so pelasant despite the lakes and river. Val feels weak tonight, dizzy and we decide to get a take away and eat in the room tonight....
23/03
We wake up early to sort out our trip to Hanoi and go and visit the citadel before the heat, it is supposed to be 38 degres today...again!! I go and find us some train tickets for this afternoon as we are not so keen on staying here for long, the city in itself has not hooked us. After a lovely breakfast on the terrace at the guesthouse, we walk to the citadel, along the Perfume river, a long walk, busy town, many scooters, the heat is already difficult to bear and we are both feeling tired ! We reach the Citadel, a city whithin the city, old ramparts, 10 km long wall where the majority of the people live...Nice to see that for once, the town even a cultural one doesn't belong to the tourists but is still a REAL town... The sights are beautiful, imperial enclosure, Chinese temples, palace, amazing pavilions, little lakes,a forbidden city for the emperor, the residences of the queen, few elephants in a garden etc etc... it feels very Chinese here again, this capital of the Nguyen Emperors. We forget the touts for 3 hours, walk around this secluded place, funny enough we catch up with a Malay guy I met during the cooking class...It is already noon and hot...we decide to head back to the guesthouse to get some food and go to the station. After a bad lunch, we check out, and let the lady from the guesthouse sort out some mortobikes for us. She ends up driving me, hard to say stable at the back of a scooter with a 20 kgs rucksack!!! We leave Hue with no regret, happy to have seen the sights, the lovely citadel but not convinced by the city, specially after magical Hoi An.
The sleeper train for Hanoi is supposed to leave at 3 pm, we wait, wait, few Westerners and many Vietnamese until 4 pm when the train appears...we discover we are not in the normal sleeper 2nd class as we wanted but in a posher coach!!!
Well actually there are no Vietnamese people here and the air con is not working...Great...after crap bus journey here comes the train journey!!!
We are both melting, asking the staff to sort out the air con, it keeps stopping...oh joy...Val talks to some English people in the luxury carriage, next to ours, it is soooo much cooler there...The staff members come to the next cabin and start smoking drinking beers and play loud music...it is getting a bit too much for Val, we paid more to avoid crazy night bus and it will take longer to reach Hanoi but we were hoping to sleep!!! Action is necessary here!!
We chat to the guy in charge of the luxury carriage and he offers us an upgrade, cash in hand of course and unofficial!!! We move to a luxury cabin, just for the two of us, a risk as we might get kicked out in the middle of the night as we have no real tickets...but will see....
Feels so much better...we go for a stroll in the train, chat to the 4 English guys next to us and finally relax...the night might be good in the end! We should reach Hanoi around 4-5 am.
1 comments:
Hoi An sounds really good - you're making me want to visit!
Look forward to seeing the clothes you've had made up!
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