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Published: January 16th 2018
...first walk into Hoi An Old Town
...bridge leads across to the old town.When last we left you, which makes the bold assumption someone is actually reading this drivel, our intrepid travellers were just departing Halong Bay by coach returning to Hanoi and then onto Danang and Hoi An. Agreed, intrepid travellers is a bit over the top for this particular trio, but then so is referring to a bus as a coach as tour operators seem to be prone too.
Our bus was a little late out of Halong Bay, or rather the marina there. It's a bit of a zoo actually, although these tenders coming to the docks and sea wall from the bigger boats and disgorging score after score of tourists for the return to Hanoi. It all takes a bit of time to move a swarm of people through a small terminus and onto a swag of buses scattered over a very short and very narrow roadway. But the tour operators are well practiced and get it done very well.
Aboard the bus we undertake the 3 and a half hour drive back to Hanoi. Again it is not really a chore as it is all new and interesting. Postcard scene after postcard scene
...not as cold as it looks. Very mild.
...standing by the river just inside the old town. the whole way interspersed with amusing sights.
Dropped back at the May De Ville Hotel in the Old Quarter just before 5 pm, we take up residence in a corner of the foyer, and advantage of the free wifi. Reception staff were expecting us as we wait for our driver to the airport.
Here I'm going to go off topic slightly and actually write something travel journalish, which spell check tells me is not a word but the English language is an evolving language so get over it. This is one of the few times I have ever traveled with transfers all arranged. This was partly because this seemed to be the sort of thing suitcase travellers do. Well, for Vietnam with two teenagers in tow and some of the odd travel times we've had its been brilliant. I'll go further and suggest it's probably been potentially cheaper or at least on par with what your going to pay winging it. It's been stress free and the drivers have always been on time and efficient. We have seven such transfers through Vietnam and Cambodia and here at the halfway stage they have been fantastic.
...old Japanese Bridge..
...there is a shrine in a room in the middle of the bridge. Very cool... I digress.
Well kind of. Our driver arrives at the May De Ville at 6 pm. Sharp. In the intervening period I have left the kids in the foyer and taken a last walk around the Old Quarter and visited another ATM to get several million more Dong for the next leg.
It's now peak hour traffic and grid lock. Picture walking out of the concourse of Eden Park with thousands of people shoulder to shoulder and then put them all on scooters and that is what the roads here, in every direction look like. It is total pandemonium but again, it works. Every road trip is an experience here and there is always something to see or watch.
Check in at Terminal 1. It's domestic as well as International flights from this terminal, so everyone goes through international terminal standard security checks. It is fairly efficient and does not take long. Large terminal and quite comfortable. They've just opened a Burger King and the kids have a craving for a simple burger after the feasts of Vietnamese food of the last few days. It's not that it's
better, cos it sure as hell ain't, it's just that its familiar and comfortable and a bit of a change.
Slightly alarming few minutes when Reuben goes off the rails and is a total clown. Very funny and Caitlin was almost in tears with laughter, but slightly concerning as there were shades of Mitchell for those of us who are aware of that persona.
9 pm boarded the flight for Danang. Come on, as a sentence that just sounds cool. Any sentence that has Danang as a destination has an undertone of movies like Platoon or Deer Hunter to it. Flight was great with Vietnam Airlines and they are a very good airline it seems.
Our guide and driver met us outside the terminal and over the 40 minute drive to Hoi An gave us local information and advice and a bit of the history of the place. Checked into the Vinh Hung Riverside Resort just after 11 pm. Really does feel like a resort, looks cool even in this hour.
Finally to bed around midnight. Long day. 16 hours earlier we had been kayaking in Halong Bay
...Rosie's Cafe...
...3 times Vietnamese coffee. watching monkeys scramble over rock faces.
Good day.
The younger ones were sound asleep the following morning so I headed off for breakfast alone around 7:30 am. The alone part was the best part and I was careful not to wake them as I sneaked out of the room. I also had a hankering, now I sound like I'm from Kentucky, for a Vietnamese coffee, my new vice.
...and another tangent. Vietnam coffee is amazing. Don't spoil it with frothy milk and caramel swirls. It comes as a glass with a bit of condensed milk in the base, and a small one cup coffee filter sitting atop it that slowly filters, like the name suggests really, the coffee down over the condensed milk. When I first saw it I thought 'yuk'. I was encouraged to try it. Did so and now do so more regularly. Reuben is equally fond of them and we have been paying as little a $1.50 for these. Sadly breakfast did not have these coffees but plenty of other good coffee.
Did not know this but Vietnam is apparently the second biggest coffee exporter in the
...the forecourt of a Japaneze temple..
...something different for Reuben and Caitlin. world behind Brazil.
The buffet breakfast here is amazing and I settle down with banana pancakes and coffee at a table on the covered verandah overlooking the river. Read the Herald online and work through an array of small French pastries. Not a bad way to start a day.
Weather is overcast and a little bit of periodic drizzle but warm enough and quite pleasant.
Head back and rally the kids and get Caitlin to breakfast. Reuben wants more sleep. Poor wee possum. Caitlin loves the banana pancakes and I join her for another cup of coffee while we sit on the verandah, plan the day and watch the river boats idle slowly by. All pretty cool really. Not something you can ever put a price tag on.
It's now 9 am and the day is disappearing and there is an ancient city to visit and explore. And it's a whole 5 minute walk to get there!!
Drop off the laundry to an old Vietnamese woman across the street who charges $1 per kilo.
There is a ticket office as you cross
the main bridge and river into the old town. It's 120,000 Dong for the sites of the old city. Slightly debatable you even need a ticket but later we did it find it useful. Under 14's are free entry.
Crossing the bridge into the old city run into a guy I work with in Auckland. Small world.
It's a little cool and still relatively early so it's all very quiet. Great introduction to the old town. Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site. It's history is that it was a busy trading point and town between the 15th and 19th century and there is a heavy influence of Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese cultures and architecture throughout. There is also a French presence from the latter period. It is being restored by a collaboration of Vietnam and Japan and is well advanced.
It's a really interesting place and has a good feeling to it. Very safe. The main part of the old town is just three or four streets with a number of smaller alleys and streets running off and joining them. It is bordered on one side by the river.
...the river by night...
...a very memorable sight. Just a fascinating place to wander with lots of the shops and stalls selling different ranges of items we haven't seen before. It's still very touristy in a unique way but still really kind of cool.
Reuben has googled and found the best coffee in Hoi An is at Rosie's Cafe. This takes a while to find but when we do it's worth the walk and hunt. Three Vietnamese coffees. Caitlin not quite as sold on them. Pretty cool way to pass half an hour. Quirky little cafe in a back alley of Hoi An.
Then spent a couple of hours doing what we do best. Wandering. Perhaps it's our gypsy blood! Few purchases were made. Nothing significant, just momentos and odds and sods. Nothing for the pool room.
By midday we realised we hadn't eaten for a couple of hours, hard to believe, so found a table in a little dual Vietnamese French cafe overlooking the street. Kids ate Vietnamese, I went French. Pastries. Again the food was fantastic and all for just a few bucks each.
Both the kids a bit weary from last few days
...the lanterns of Hoi An.
...photos taken by Caitlin.. so we headed back to the accommodation and I dropped them off and went back to meander and visit some of the sites. The old Japanese Bridge is quite a sight. Also visited a couple of temples. Probably best didn't have the kids along.
By late afternoon the place is heaving and being a Saturday is even more busy. Look through a few old temples, shops and find my way to the old markets. Very typical and traditional for what you see across Asia. Stacks of small stalls jammed tightly together and every inch of space utilised. There's everything here from tourist t-shirts and souvenirs to the most amazing fresh produce and herbs, butchers stands and fish stalls. Fascinating to just take in and watch the locals trade with one another. Seems, like most tourist markets, there is a price difference between locals and tourists. Fair enough too. Bit peckish so grabbed a banana pancake off a street vendor. Just to get through to dinner.
Got the kids and headed back, again, for dinner about 7:30 pm. It's now dark and we walk through the night market to get to the old town. It's
loud, colourful and vibrant. But there isn't really that much variety in the products. Nothing original seen. Just a fun vibe to move through.
Arrive at the river and catch just a little bit of magic. At night Hoi An is lit by lanterns. All colours, variety of shapes. Quite spectacular. On the river the little boats move up and down with a lantern hung at the stern. In the river are hundreds of open cardboard boxes of all colours with a candle in each one. These are bought for a few Dong from the street vendors and then launched a little upstream to float down under the bridge and past Hoi An. Standing on the bridge looking upstream and downstream is quite an amazing sight.
There is a very different feel to the town at night and by 9 pm most of the crowds had moved on and it's quiet.
The following morning all up for breakfast. Same as the previous day. Just as good. The weather is a little better this morning and it's dry. It's still warm, even when it is drizzling.
After breakfast casually
...and some more...
...many different colours and shapes. walk into town to a restaurant, the start point for this mornings 5 hour cooking class. It's with the Red Bridge Cooking School. There's about 20 in the group and Reuben and Caitlin are the youngest by at least 25 years. Divide into smaller groups, each with a guide who takes us through the markets. It's actually very interesting and the guide tells a good story. He identifies a number of the different fruits, some we'd never seen before. The seafood and fresh water fish in the markets is quite incredible. Much of it still alive. Really quite fascinating. Even for a couple of teenagers.
Then climb aboard a river boat and take a 25 minute ride down river and into a small tributary running off the main river. This is where the cooking school is.
The cooking class is in a covered pavilion outside surrounded by bush. They run it very well and following a detailed demonstration we individually cook three dishes. The food even when cooked by amateurs like us is just amazing. Was a good fun morning and a different experience for the kids. About 2 pm drifted back to town
and went back to wandering the streets of the old town again. Much quieter today, fewer of the shops open but most are.
Didn't need much for dinner after the mountain we had had at the cooking school. So a light one in the old town and some more time watching the lanterns. Then back through the night markets and back at the resort about 10 pm. All pretty tired by now.
Hoi An has probably been my favourite stop to date. It is also my biggest mistake in that we were just not here long enough. Another two days to go beyond the old town and see other parts of Hoi An would have been great.
Tomorrow we head out for Ho Chi Minh.
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