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Published: November 18th 2007
Hoi An Flood
What we do for takeaways! Hoi An, Vietnam
Weather research before we left had revealed we would get colder temperatures in the North and sunshine in Central and South of Vietnam. One day whilst reading the Lonely Plant I see Central and South rainy season October - November!! Oh Christ! But anyway we book to fly to Hoi An on the Saturday, lets check the weather forecast - what a typhoon hitting Hoi An on Saturday!
Well, it was only spitting and after a look around Hoi An town and, other than the tourists, is still really authentic with a Chinese influence. Footpaths are clear, hawking not allowed on the street, food and drink even cheaper than Han Oi, river running through the middle, we are going to love this place! We can eat well here for NZ$7.00 each per day and Long Island Iced Team is only $2.50 during happy 5 hours. Our Hotel which we paid a bit more for was fantastic, really nice pool, indoor/outdoor restaurant, great room and only a few minutes to town.
And then it started raining . We were surprised when we went out for dinner to see a road leading to the river
Hoi An Flood
Their homes and businesses flooded was flooded and people are rowing down the road in canoes - novel idea. Anyway 4 Long Island Iced Teas, dinner and a few hours later we were wading through the streets back to our Hotel up to our ankles in brown river water! All night it rained, and rained and rained. We awoke to no power in the town and our view of rice paddocks out the window had changed to a lake. Only the tables were visible on the deck below - the chairs under water. Downstairs the first level of the foyer is under water you have to wade out to the reception desk, the restaurant the same. The water coming through the back door filling up the fish ponds left us stranded on a small second level (12 ft by 12 ft) at the bottom of the stairs - the only dry place on the ground floor. Luckily this contained a small kitchen so they could cook for us!
The view out the front door of the Hotel was amazing - locals have replaced their motorbikes with row boats - and no horns, bliss! Travelers checking out are walking along the roads with water up
Hoi An Flood
Still they use their motorbikes! to their waste with suitcases in the air, some leaving in row boats rowing into reception to pick them up. I text Kiel and Liam for the forecast - storms for the week!
They start leaving in droves. There are only 6 of us left in the Hotel, the other 30 have left. We change rooms so we get a view onto the street and sit all day watching the road that’s now a river. The staff cook our meals during the day and the receptionist at night, where we sit eating dinner under candle light on the small platform, the only dry downstairs area. We had a really nice evening with 3 lovely girls, 2 travellers and the receptionist, people we would not have got to know if we were not stranded in our hotel. They have never seen the floods up this far before.
The morning broke to water in the streets only with dry access out of the hotel, but most of the town near the river was still flooded. We were 1 km away from the river and it got up to chest level on our street, so shops by the town had about
Hoi An Flood
Hotel staff transport to and from work 10 feet of water to subside. With the Hotel back to normal, shops slowly opening, restaurants back up and running, generators turned on - thousands of new tourists arrive to replace those that ran out of town the day before. The women are all cleaning out the shops and houses, sweeping the streets, and where are the men - you guessed it - at the bars!
It was a shame as we did not get to sightsee and it would have been a great town to meander around the ancient town and show houses in the sunshine. Some roads were closed and trains were not going, planes were booked so we stay a few more nights. We walked around the town the last day when the river level was back to normal and shops and streets were being hosed out. The police or army were out helping. It would be a few more days to this place was back to normal. A google search tells us this is Vietnams 4th flood in 4 weeks in the central region.
The town is filled with tailors, it is renowned as the cheapest place in Vietnam to get stuff made and
Our Street - After
It was exciting just to be able to walk down our street everyone does. I even got my favorite skirt copied for $20.00, but most were getting cashmere/wool coats, suits, trousers, skirts and silk dresses. The other shops are souvenier or silver jewellery shops. It is totally a town supported by the tourists.
FOOD If you visit you must go to Cafe 43 it has really amazing tasty food and extremely cheap.
We spent most nights at Treats or Re-treat bars, there are 3 of them and they have great cocktails for cheap price and its a great place to get a hamburger. You can eat breakfast there for $1.50.
THE PEOPLE The Vietnamese people are lovely, you feel very safe here. The only complaint would be the young kids that approach you in the street, in the pub and even come up to you when eating in a restaurant trying to sell you cards. They all have the same stuff. No street hawkers - yeh right!! Last nights conversation went like.....
Boy - Buy something from me.
Us - No thank you
Boy - Happy hour come on mardarm happy hour, you buy from me, oohhhh come on mardarm, you buy from me, happy hour.
Us -
Our Street - During
It reached chest height and yet we were 1km from the river that flooded. Streets close to the river it was over 10 feet deep! No thank you.
Boy - repeat above
Us - No thank you.
Boy - repeat above.
And this goes on, same conversation until finally after you have ignored them for 2 minutes, they go away.
Then 5 minutes later a girl approaches - same dialogue as above.
Then boy comes back and starts same dialog again, but this time he produces something I want (Tiger Balm for under the nose in India!!). So I buy.
Girl comes back........sad face.....why you not buy from me, why you buy from him, why you not buy from me, why you buy from him.
Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh
This goes on all night!!
What a life the men have here, its unbelievable. They sit at their bars on their little plastic chairs, drinking, talking and watching the world go by. The women work and give the men their wages - either husband or father, although the men pay for the wedding and give the dowry!
Some sights:
Truck load of bricks -the women are unloading the bricks into a cart, and then will lift the cart , move it to site and unload - the
After the Flood
Fishing for food in the creek - yuk! man sits in the truck cab.
Rubbish Collection - the women walk around the streets picking up rubbish pushing laden carts (the size of mini skips), when full they unload manually into the rubbish truck - the man stands by pushing the buttons.
We heard:
“If you served in the war in the South you are not allowed to hold a Government job for 3 generations. But if you have a lot of money you can buy yourself off the black list” This means they cannot become teachers, policemen, nurses, post office worker, etc.
“I go for interview at better hotel, I get one question, what do you parents do? No more questions” They don’t work for the Government or own a business.
“I want to be a policeman because they make the most money, not the salary but the backhanders” “If a Vietnamese boy asks you to marry him you always say yes, you will learn to love him” “Vietnamese boys have lots of girlfriends at once, and when they get married they have secret girlfriends” “You only sleep with boys when you know he will be your husband, not before.”
ACCOMMODATION We stayed one night at the Green Fields Hotel which had mixed reviews on the internet, but the room was fine, had TV and fridge, bathroom needed some work, and we never tried the food cos of the bad reviews. It was only NZ$33.00 per night.
The other 3 nights are at Thien Thanh and would highly recommend this place, even though it flooded. We have a NZ$46.00 superior room. It has a fabulous pool, and restaurant which you can sit outside with a view of the rice paddocks, fish ponds in the foyer, close to town, very clean, TV, fridge, jug and all the mod cons. The staff have been fantastic!
Thien thanh We are leaving tomorrow after 5 nights in Han Oi, but flights are fully booked, trains are not running so the only way out if an overnight bus (12 hours). And where to ….its raining everywhere so the beach of course!
Videos of flood below, if stopping and starting please let them fully download first and then replay, it will play smoothly.
Have you read the Han Oi blog, I uploaded 2 a
Hoi An
Japanese Bridge - under water after our first day! day apart and some have missed reading both the Han Oi and Hoi An
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michelle
non-member comment
re Hoi An
Thanks for that...was just there in aug/ sept 09 when 1st floodong started. That town holds a special place in my heart (tears form whilst looking thru ) We cant wait to go back & like yourselves, felt safe there- the people are so lovely- esp when you consider their past & present situations.