It's a small world!

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I'm writing this from the Hoi An Beach Resort in Hoi An. It is Sunday evening the 19th here around 9:00. We could not get onto a computer yesterday so I'll take this session to catch you up to this point. This computer is very slow so no pictures. I'll keep looking for a computer that can handle the photo downloads. Also, I'd like to apologize for some of the grammer and spelling errors. These keyboards have a very different look and feel from what Michelle and I are used to.

Saturday --

Started out in a very interesting way. We were sitting in the hotel lobby in Saigon when an American approached Michelle asking about directions to the War Rememberence Museum. During their conversation Michelle kept telling herself that this guy looked familiar. I came up and we started talking to him about traffic, scooters etc. The man apologized to me for continuing to look at my "friend" but it was just that she looked like someone where he works. I asked him where he was from and he said Seattle. I then asked him who he worked for and he said Univar. Michelle came out of her seat and said "I knew it!" For those of you from Univar it was Tom who works for the Univar Corp and does a lot of traveling to China for Univar. That's why Michelle did not think that it could be him because he normally travels to China. For those not from Univar his office is around the corner from Michelle and they chat sometimes in the Univar coffee room. What a small world it is! Tom introduced Michelle to his group of people and kept saying the same thing, "What a small world!"
We left for Hoi An and Tom staying in VN until March 1st.

We flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang where we were greeted by our first tour guide and driver. From Da Nang we drove approx. 1 hour to the Hoi An Beach Resort.

The drive was very interesting. We saw everything from the poorest of homes to the very luxurious sometimes side by side. We made two stops along the way.

The first was at a place called Marble Mountain. Here locals bring marble down from the mountain for carving. We saw every possible item carved, from American Indian Chiefs, to small elephants to Budahs 10 feet tall. We watched the carvers work. The workers were very interested in having us buy something. They followed us very closely often no more than about a foot away always coaxing us to make a purchase. Our will power was stronger, we bought nothing here.

The next stop was at a silk factory. Here silk is made and then sewn into various types of clothing, lanterns, and art. It was very interesting to learn how the silk worms grow and eat and then create cocoons. Each cocoon can make between 600 - 1000 meters of silk. Sorry you will have to do the math on how much that is in feet. We did buy some things here because they were very pretty. If my memory serves me we both bought some lanterns and I bought a beautiful piece of art that was hand stiched in silk.

Next stop, Hoi An Beach Resort. The resort sits between the ocean and the De Vong river a total distance of not more than a quarter mile apart. We checked in to the resort and while Michelle freshened up, I explored a little bit. This is a very pretty place, right on the river. I watched a couple of fellows fishing and chatted with a security guard about the area.

Michelle joined me and we strolled to the ocean for a little bit and then went over to have a drink in the resort lounge which sits open along the river. From the bar we enjoyed a magnificent view of the river with local farmers fishing for dinner right below our table. We could see water buffalos just across the river.

We met a very nice waiter named Lai. Our chance meeting has thus far, become our fondest memory, but more about that later. We enjoyed talking with Lai and as it was not very busy at the time, he could stay and talk awhile. His english was not too bad. By the time we were ready to leave, Lai offered us a private boat-trip using his own little boat for $10.00 for the both of us. We jumped at the chance and agreed to meet tomorrow.

Our tour guide and driver picked us up at the resort and drove us to our first dinner at a local restaurant in Hoi An. The meal was pretty good.

Hoi An is a very touristy town. Several large resorts and all kinds of shops catoring to the Western tourist. It is known for its tailors and many streets are shop after shop of fabric stores where you are measured and clothes made for you and delivered to your hotel. Same for shoes.

That was our day for Saturday -----


On Sunday, our tour guide and driver offered us an extra trip to the Cham Temples (which was not part of our agenda) for $50.00 for both. The place was about 1 hour drive. We drove thru little villages and saw beautiful scenry of rice paddies, buffalos, and small houses. We arrived at the place to buy entrance tickets which cost me $1.50 but Tom $2.50 since he is American. How prejudice that was! I told Tom that this is the time he wished he looked Vietnamese.

We were picked up by an old military jeep and drove up to the temples origionally buit in the 4th Century of wood then replaced beginning in the 7th Century by stone. It was a very interesting trip and we learned so much about the history of the Cham with different gods. According to our guide this site would rival Angar Wat in Cambodia but because of the bombing during the war several of the temples were destroyed.

We finished our tour with the trip to the Ancient quarter of Hoi An. We strolled down the streets filled with clothes and arts shops. We bought several beautiful original paintings with such a bargains!

We finished our tour early and came back to the hotel to get ready to meet with Lai for our private boat trip. What a memorial trip !!!

We had to walk down the road a bit because Lai would get in trouble if the Resort knew what he was doing. He picked us up on his scooter. Yes, we both rode in the back of his little scooter!! He took us back to his little house about 3 miles from the resort. You should have seen the looks of the people in his village when they saw Lai, Michelle and American Tom come riding in. From there, we met his dad, Uncle Cuong, and his brother and nephew. We boarded his little boat which was about the size of a large canoe and run by gasoline. His Uncle Cuong was our captain, and Lai was our first mate. They took us thru the jungle of water coconut trees. Very narrow waterway here too narrow for anything but very small boats. They told us historical stories about the VN war, of how the communist took advantage of these coconut trees to attack the Amercian planes and boats. At the same time, Lai said that the American Marines had killed so many innocent children and adults from his village since they thought that these people were under-cover communist. Lai said normally the resorts have these kind of tours for the tourist but they would never take you thru these water coconut jungles.

After more than 1 hour on the boat, Lai took us ashore and invited us to come inside for tea. We met his sweet Mom and took pictures of her in front of their house. We asked Lai to give us his address because we want to make sure any of our friends who come to Hoi An contact Lai to have this trip. We ended up giving Lai $15 for the trip, a bargain for us and almost 25% of what he makes in a month at the Resort. We wished we could stay longer but had to leave for dinner. He drove us back again on his scooter.

Our guide and driver drove us to Hoi An for dinner and we came back to the Resort. Michelle and I took turns writing this while She got a shampoo and dry ($3) and I got a massage also $3.

We've taken a lot of photos and when we find a computer with a broad band connection we will download more.

Tomorrow we are off to Hue a three hour drive.



After that bit of excitement we left Saigon to fly to Da Nang and then a drive to the ocean and .

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