Advertisement
Published: November 23rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Viet 2 L
Hoi An - UNESCO World Heritage Site, well deserved, congratulations to all concerned on a job well done. Hey again,
Just a quick update this time I'm afraid(who am I kidding, once it starts it never stops), on our final leg through Vietnam. As mentioned previously Hoi An (the city of tailors) was our next stop on our journey north along the vietnamese coast and we duly engaged in the defining activities of the town, by getting measured, fitted and decked out in a few pairs of slacks and shirts for work(in Aus of course, no need to rush into anything so drastic as work just yet).
Now again I also said last time I'd keep you abreast of our progress no matter how mundane and monotonous, but even I can't bring myself to boring you with the remainder of our day's in Vietnam as we visited a series of ancient cities, temples, tombs and ruins in and around Hoi An(A UNESCO World Heritage Site itself, quite peaceful and picturesque, it's fair to say) and Hue(our final destination in Vietnam and not so picturesque, although it is home to some very clever fish, more later!)).
I'm well aware that some who glance at this blog on occassion will no doubt question why we write it, if
Viet 2 A
I seen it first, that's my pellet of rotten fish grub! not to share the sights and experiences of the places we visit, so for those such people among you, here is a quick lowdown on what we've seen in the last week. If any of the below are of great interest to you(which I doubt), please feel free to google for further information at your leisure but please do not contact me on these places at any point as I have nothing further to add.
Hoi An Old Town - As stated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and very beautiful it is, a nice place to chill for a few days for the travel weary backpackers and romantics out there.
My Son - Another UNESCO World Heritage Site and a religious center in the Cham era of the 4th to 13th Century, seen better in India though!
Hue Citadel - The erstwhile imperial city on the northern bank of the Song Huang(plaigeurised from Lonely Planet) and home to a mass of hungry and clever koi, see pics below. These koi will literally climb over each other for even the smallest pellet of food proffered by the public they appear so starved(quite fat though so perhaps more greedy
Viet 2 B
Look I'll open my mouth like this and you throw it in, go on I'm only small and I'm starving. than hungry), Mei even tried to train them by pretending to hold pellets over the water and was successful in making the fish follow her hand to the other end of the pond some 20 metres away, like little gold legless dog's they were. Think perhaps we've also found Mei's new profession, Animal Trainer, first snakes, now koi, it's got to be a sign. Pushing on the Koi are the best thing about the Citadel, better examples of similar form of architecture in Beijing in my humble opinion.
Tombs Tu Duc, Dong Khanh, Khai Dinh and Minh Mang - A much of a muchness, although the settings of the Minh Mang tomb were quite beautiful and serene, I suppose what a resting place should be.
Thien Mu Pagoda - An octagonal pagoda, it is one of the most famous structures in Vietnam. Founded in 1601, it was the home pagoda of Thich Quang Duc, who publicly burned himself to death in 1963 to protest the policies of President Ngo Dinh Diem(again stolen from Lonely Planet as I'm now bored of trying to explain much of what we've seen in a different light, when sometimes unless deeply into your
Viet 2 E
Citadel Greens - a moat of lillies out front, most pretty ! religious artifacts and their significance, one roles into another).
Now it may appear I'm somewhat tiring of the ancient sites, but I think this is a little unfair, we have seen many wonderfull sights so far on the trip, but the misses have been as prevalent as the hits, to be honest I'm much more enjoying the cities and it's people rather than the ruins. According to locals and many times the lonely planet every sight is a must, but the misses have probably been more so in the last leg of Vietnam(much of what we visited was destroyed in the war, something you rarely find out until you enter these places).
In summing our time in Vietnam, very much liked it and would definitely return(have yet to see the north), a very positive experience all in all, didn't even mind the long bus journey's as managed a couple of hours kip on most. I can see this place becoming quite popular among package travellers quite soon as the country has quickly grasped the tourism opportunity it's natural resources and history offer it, only needs a bit more highlighting is all, a couple of dong to be spent
Viet 2 H
Strolling the Citadel ! on selling itself.
Vietnam also gives Dublin and other relatively small cities with a seemingly chronic traffic problem around the globe something to think about - the humble bike and lightweight scooter. Why every city which is crippled with traffic on a daily basis doesn't promote the use of the bike and scooter around it's inner city is beyond me. In all the major cities we've been in Vietnam, the traffic whether rush hour or not has moved effortlessy through the widest and narrowest of streets alike. If we were honest with ourselves, there is probably nowhere in inner Dublin with is not easily reachable by at most a 20 min scooter ride. Also would it not be great to get a moto rickshaw home of an evening on the booze instead of a stale taxi, would be great craic and before you go on about the weather, these guy's deal with rain ten times worse, by placing a large poncho over the whole scooter, something I'm sure we can adapt to - so come on people, ditch the cars and trucks and mend the aul Honda 50 in the shed and ease the flow on Dublin streets and
Viet 2 D
Minh Mang tomb, told ya it was serene ! support my campaign - Hollah for the Dublin city rickshaw wallah !
Anyways enough is enough, we'll move onto Laos from Vietnam, so expect our next blog to be a much more lively affair as we hit Vang Vieng(tubing capital of SE Asia).
Aside, no pictures of Mei as she was feeling unwell and shunned all attempts to capture her image, promise she'll be in the next bunch to up the beauty ratings of the blog.
Take care and remember one foot forward is no use unless followed by the other,
Manto
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0379s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bar
non-member comment
Thats a lovely citadel in the picture there, don't see many citadels like that around these days, i remember a time this place used to be wall to wall citadels but now you are blessed if you manage to see even a hint of a citadel during your working day