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Published: December 27th 2009
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HEADING NORTH
We flew from HCMC to Da Nang (Thurs 12 Nov) on Jetstar - possibly the worse airline we have ever flown with! Very cheap but an hour delay to begin with, followed by no leg room not even for a five foot nothing person let alone anyone any taller, no food, no drinks and a safety briefing which consisted of pointing to a card, they didn't even mention gas masks - don't think they had them! It said on tray plate; 'for life buoyancy use bottom seat cushion'!!! Amazingly, we made it to Da Nang at 10pm and due to the late hour just grabbed a taxi transfer the 35km hour journey South to Hoi An and our hotel (there were no hostels here) Nha Trung.
TAILORS, TAILORS AND MORE TAILORS!! HOI AN
A UNESCO World Heritage Site - consisting of just three main parallel streets and alongside the Thu Bon River, Hoi An was a gorgeous little town with heaps of character. Two hundred year old wooden fronted shops lined the streets. A rich fusion of architecture, both European and Asian was evident. There were several Chinese temples and Chinese style shop fronts. In its early
days, the town was a major trading port for the worlds nations. Many sailors and merchants traveled to Hoi An from around the world and several chose to stay on, giving it a rich diversity of culture and history which we could clearly observe as we explored the main streets and the tiny pathways.
One of the most interesting explorations was our walk through the impressive bustling fish market located on the riverside. Tons of fresh vegetable stalls, stalls laden with a huge variety or colourful and aromatic spices, stalls selling lace, silk and obviously (as it was a fish market) a huge variety of fresh fish - so fresh it had only been caught that night. It was predominantly women running all the stalls and the place was a hive of activity but still friendly and welcoming. We both really enjoyed walking round and the occasional barter!
The most disappointing landmark we discovered was the Japanese covered bridge. We had read that this bridge has been adopted as Hoi An's emblem and I think we expected it to be an impressive landmark. As we rounded the corner to the bridge, we realised, we could not have been
Duck in one hand, fresh veg in other!
These ducks were alive moments before, the lady picked which she wanted, they were necked & given to her! more wrong!!! The bridge enclosed by walls to the side and a definitely seen better days ornamental roof, looked more like a derelict, throw back from years gone by. Painted a gaudy pink but with more paint flaked off than adorning the walls. It look old, decrepit and not an inspiring emblem of any sort at all! What they should have as an emblem is an outline of a tailor ... there were SO many tailor's shops here, every second shop was a tailor shop. they were offering tailor made, suits, dresses, coats, you name it - all from the most gorgeous Vietnamese silk at next to nothing prices. Shame neither of us work in a suit ... well, could arrive in one, sit have a brew and just direct operations from a comfy chair - ha ha!!!
That night (13 Nov) we booked to complete a Vietnamese cookery course at the Hai Cafe.
The course ran for two hours (6-8pm) and then the best bit ... you got to eat the fruits of your labour! The cooking class aimed to give 'an interesting and fun way to learn about the local cuisine'. It commenced with the café’s chef
introducing us to a huge variety of local ingredients and what they could be used for whilst giving us an in depth insight into the Hoi An style of cooking. Then the chef took us through the preparation of each dish, whilst each of us there helped to prepare a part of the dish. We learnt how to do:
Vegetable Spring Rolls - market vegetables, rice noodles and diced fresh tiger prawns wrapped with fresh rice paper and pan-fried,
Beef Salad - thinly sliced and marinated beef combined amongst other things with green papaya, onion, ginger, garlic, Vietnamese mint and lemon juice,
Grilled Fish in Banana Leaf - local ocean fish stuffed with lemongrass, coriander, garlic, onions, sugar and rum. The fish was then wrapped in banana leaves and barbecued for approximately 30 minutes.
In addition to the courses we prepared the chef also made two of Hoi An's local specialties; Banh Bao Vac 'White Rose' a shrimp dumping made from translucent manioc-flour dough bunched to look like a rose and Hoanh Thanh Chien, crispy style Chinese wantons; wheat flour steamed to produce a wrapping filled with shrimp and pork. Wontons are fried in hot oil and garnished
with market vegetables and crushed black pepper.
The cookery course was really interesting and we would definitely attempt to recreate the recipes again when back home. Although it did feel a little rushed and we both agreed we would have rather prepared each dish ourselves individually rather than having each person in the group helping to prepare a part of each dish. Consequently, we vowed to do another course in the food type we have preferred the most in the Far East and South East Asia - Thai!!
HUE
The next morning at 8am we caught a bus the four hours (just under 200km) North to Hue.
Hue was described as the cultural and historical heart of Vietnam. The city comprised of a nineteenth century walled citadel and the remnants of its Imperial city (modeled on the Forbidden City in China but a much smaller scale!) And believe us ... it sounds much more impressive than it actually was! In fact, we would both describe Hue as pretty dull and unmemorable! Paul used other adjectives but I'm sure you have the idea! Two hours was more than enough to wander the city and its sights so
after that we made plans to head further North that night in a bid to reach the capital of Vietnam - Hanoi.
An overnight bus booked and we continued planning ahead, this time making a call to Kangaroo cafe in Hanoi to book our trips to Ha Long Bay and Sapa. The owner, Max, was really friendly and helpful but boy, could he talk!!! Yes pot and kettle I know but this guy could talk me under the table!! One of the final questions he asked me was how we were getting to Hanoi. I informed him we were actually waiting for the overnight bus which was due to pick us up in around two hours. It was at that moment that I thought Max was going to have a heart attack on the other end of the line! In very animated short bursts he listed the copious reasons why under no circumstances we should get on that bus. These included quite frightening statistics on road fatalities in Vietnam, a drop off point which was over 15km out of the city centre, theft of belongings by other backpackers whilst you sleep and numerous other unpleasantries. After ending the phone
call we did a quick list of advantages and disadvantages for the journey North and needless to say, a second later we were sprinting down to the local Vietnam airlines office just under a km away and inquired about the price of a flight. It was much cheaper than we anticipated so we booked on the next flight which happened to be leaving in just under 2hrs. We had to sprint back to collect our bags before running to find the airport transfer pick up point.
As we waited in the airport, I started to feel a little unwell - must have picked up a virus or food poisoning. Thank god for the flight in just over an hour we were in Hanoi, if we would have been on the bus (without the scams, stealing and dropping you off 10km from the city centre) it would have taken over 24hrs!!
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Sid & Jan
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Happy New Year
Dave has been sending on your blogs, we have been following you on your travels, you seem to get into some scarey situations but also see some lovely places, have fun in OZ and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU BOTH (bet you have better weather than us) Take Care Sid and Jan xx