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Published: March 7th 2011
March 6, 2011
Temperature 29 degrees – sunny
This morning we woke up in paradise, the birds were singing and there was a soft breeze blowing past our bungalow. In the distance we could hear the roar of the Gulf of Tonkin. The Palm Garden Resort is rated as 5 star with all the necessary amenities, located just south of China Beach and 30 kilometers from Danang.
Now, let’s back up a couple of days. Our last morning in Hanoi was spent in the centre of the city, Hanoi’s Old Quarter. And of course the best way to explore it is on foot. The motor bike and bicycle traffic is absolutely insane and the horn honking and beeping was enough to drive you crazy. We managed to pop into a few of the unique shops and even purchased some Commi propaganda posters. We had an opportunity to observe some of the French architecture, Hanoi’s State Guest House and The Presidential Palace. It was also interesting to see the tube house, which can be as little as 6.5 ft wide, but up to 262 ft deep. Behind the shop front are work areas, courtyards and living rooms. Today these houses
have grown to create tall thin ‘rocket buildings’ still limited to their foot print by the original land deeds.
Neglected to mention, we had front row seats at the Water Puppet Theatre. Water puppetry dates back almost a thousand years and was performed in villages using rivers, lakes or rice fields as the theatre.
After a short one hour flight to we were met at the Hue airport my Luat. We had a whirl wind tour of the city a managed to get into the Royal Citadel before the gates were locked for the night. These Vietnamese citadels were constructed to provide defence against physical and spiritual attack, with huge, square stone walls. The Hien Nhon Gate at the Hue Citadel is constructed using Chinese style with elaborate turrets, a two story platform to provide viewing areas for the soldiers. The courtyard and common area is also similar to that of the Royal Palace in Beijing.
Dinner was enjoyed at very local restaurant in the middle of nowhere. No one spoke English however we managed to order our dinner, pay our bill and with some assistance find our hotel.
It was an 8:00 AM departure on
March 5th as we took a river boat tour on the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. These colourful dragon boats are tour boats by day and family homes by night. Talk about corruption, every few kilometres there was a so called police boat anchored on the river collecting a toll. The boat operator had to board the police boat the pay the dept. We never saw the authorities, we were told to stay in our seats.
Our drive from Hue to Hoi An was approximately 3 hours with a short stop at the summit to use the happy room. As soon as our van stopped we were swarmed by vendors trying to selling everything you can imagine, from post cards to pearls.
It is amazing how confused one can get when half a dozen of these women are nattering at you when you are trying to pay for a pack of ten post cards. The currency in Vietnam is the dong and 20 thousand dong equals 1$US.
Well they managed to scam one of us by grabbing a 500 thousand dollar dong instead of a 50 thousand dollar dong and gave back 30 thousand as
change.
Luat our tour guide threatened to inform all of the local tour guides about this situation and promised never to have another tour bus stop there again. These local people depend of the tourists or survival so as a result one of the other vendors returned the money.
The moral of the story is knowing your currency, never flash a lot of cash and if you feel uncomfortable in a situation, walk away.
Our next stop was at Marble Mountain near Danang where five of the ladies climbed to mountain to view the sights. The little town was wall to wall with marble carving shops. Yes some of us even managed to purchase marble items. Heaven only knows how much we will pay for excess luggage now!
Located on the north bank of the Thu Bon River, Hoi An was a trading port from the 16th to 18th century. Traders from Japan, China and Europe gave this town its rich cultural heritage, and it became a Unesco World Heritge Site in 1999. The Old Quarter has the Japanese Covered Bridge at one end and the local market at the other end with everything in between.
Tailors, silk weaving shops, artists, museums and restaurants are located in this small area. We have now enjoyed 2 wonderful meals and have probably walked through ever shop.
We will enjoy 4 days of R&R at the Palm Garden Resort. Beach and pool time in the morning and wandering the Old Quarter in the late afternoon. We will relax and enjoy a roadside café in the evening and hopefully manage to get a good cup of coffee and or latté. For some there will be snorkelling, Vietnamese cooking class and maybe even a spa treatment.
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