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Published: December 17th 2006
Squirmy things...
Eels, snakes? not too sure.The overnight train from Hanoi down to Hue was about twelve hours, but less painful than I imagined, due in part to the abundance on Heineken onboard the train. My sleeper cabin fit four people snuggly on two bunk beds. Aside from the two local Asian speaking cabin mates (one of which I had to scold for trying to smoke a cigarette in our tiny compartment), I was lucky enough to be accompanied by a friendly Dutch PhD student traveling on two week holiday. We had a surprising amount in common and spent the first portion of the trip knocking back a few beers and discussing travel, politics, religion, & women. After a bumpy sleep to the central coast of Vietnam, I awoke to the cloudy and drizzly city of Hue. Things didn’t look too exciting here, so I made the executive solo traveling decision to keep moving, boarding a three hour bus for the more promising harbor town of
Hoi An.
It was dark now and I walked through the old quarter towards my hotel admiring the beautiful French Colonial buildings and storefronts illuminated by colorful glowing Chinese lanterns. Classical music simulcast throughout the streets floated out from behind
Cargo Club
View from my watering hole, looking across the street. dark wooden shutters and the smell of incense burned thick from bundles wedged into cracks and ledges. My hotel (The Vihn Hung) was no less inspiring, exuding an old worldly charm of dark lacquered woods and opulent Chinese furnishings. I was greeted with a warm hot towel, and friendly smiles from the hospitable staff, always nice for the weary traveler! Apparently, Michael Caine took up residence here at this hotel during the filming of
The Quiet American (2002), the movie set in 1950’s Saigon during the French Indochina war and based on the novel of Graham Greene - required reading material for anyone traveling this part of the world. More importantly, it was in the best possible location of Hoi An, squarely in the middle of the old town and a few blocks from the waterfront area. Around the corner I found the
Cargo Club, a great restaurant and café which would end up serving as my local hangout during my three days here. On my first night, I sat down on the patio watching the street scene, sipping on a Cuba Libre and munching on some amazing fresh spring rolls. I ended up sampling much of there menu while
I was here and it was all amazing…more on the food below.
Hoi An has been declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO as a well preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries. It is also renowned for the vast number of tailors throughout the old town. Virtually three out of every four storefronts are occupied by tailors who will spiff you out with custom made clothing for a fraction of the prices we pay in the U.S. I was fitted for a pair of linen trousers which fit so well, I ended up ordering another pair on the day I left. After selecting the fabric and style, they were able to turn around another pair for me in under three hours. With this vast selection of high quality goods, my American dollars were burning a hole in my pocket here. After doing some comparison shopping, I ended up shipping home a box of about fifteen really colorful and ornate Chinese Lanterns. The storekeeper was happy to ship the items home for me by calling a relative who showed up on a moped a few minutes later carrying a huge freight
scale between her legs and a stack of boxes and packing tape strapped to her back. This is typical of the way things get done in this part of the world. If someone can’t do something for you, they call a relative or friend who can so they can make some commission.
A few days ago I told myself, “Self: no more temple tours” (until Angkor Watt of course). Well with nothing better to do today, I relented and jumped on a bus full of other fair skinned travelers for the
ruins of My Son, located about one hour outside of Hoi An. My Son is a Hindu temple complex built from the 7th to 14th centuries and consisting of many Champa temples in a valley roughly 2 miles wide and surrounded by two mountain ranges. Many people describe these temples as a mini Angkor Watt, so I figured this trip would provide me with a good primer for my impending visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Apparently the big mystery with these temples is the fact that they are constructed of brick with no visible bonding or mortar material to hold them together. Scientists wonder how they stood up
My Son
Pronounced (Mee-Son) all these years….hmmm did they have crazy glue back then? Whatever they used, it wasn’t enough to withstand American warplanes that bombed many of these suspected hiding places into oblivion during the Vietnam War. Aside from the many grass covered heaps of brick, deep bomb craters also serve as strange reminders of the past, now covered with thick grass and beautiful butterflies floating about. I couldnt hear the echo of war planes, but stood under the blue sky and calm and imagined the scene as it might have unfolded here over thirty years ago.
Back in Hoi An, I returned to my favorite spot, the Cargo Club, for some more tasty morsels. I cannot overstate how amazing the food was, the purest expression of regional flavors I have experienced so far. The fare was mainly Vietnamese, but also drew heavily on other Asian cuisine such as Thai and Chinese. I spent a few hours indulging myself in Mojitos, Tiger draught beers, people watching and sampling through the extensive choices. Here's a taste of what I had....
Fresh Spring Rolls: Traditionally cooked pork, steamed shrimp, fresh glass noodles and herbs rolled in rice paper.
Tom Yam Kung Soup: Prawns,
mushrooms, shallots, tamarind root and spicy red sauce.
Thai Beef Salad: Grilled sliced beef, onion, cucumber, carrots, shallots, lemongrass, and fresh coriander with spicy dressing.
Green Mango Salad: Mango, w/ peanuts, sesame seeds, cucumber, carrots, mint & lime dressing.
Stewed Fish in Clay pot: Catfish w/ pork in caramel sauce, sauce w/ Soya, shallots, fish sauce, chili and brown sugar.
After pigging out here and dropping the astronomical sum of about ten dollars, I wandered down to the riverfront marketplace and joined up with a few chaps I met on the My Son tour, a guy named
Daniel from Singapore and a USC alum from Hermosa Beach named Mike. The three of us cruised through the marketplace where the air was filled with many strange smelling roots, spices and vegetables. We had fun joking around with the old shopkeeping women and one of them kept trying to shove dragon fruit into Mike's mouth. I found the most fascinating part of the market near the waters edge, the live (and not so alive) sea creatures being sold by the local women. Eels, fish, crabs, sea snakes, shrimps, and anything else they can catch are for sale here. They had small
buckets full of little catfish that continually flopped out and slithered around on the concrete trying to make it back to the river to no avail. I was enjoying some street food here in the market at a small stall until a huge rat about the size of a small cat darted under my table near my feet. The workers here in the market don’t seem to notice or even mind their presence. Oh speaking of rats, I also had one in my hotel room on Cat Ba island a few nights ago. As I was trying to fall asleep, I heard something on the dresser and turned on the light to find this little sucker gnawing at a can of Pringles (sour cream and onion I think). “Hello front desk? Yes I have an unexpected visitor and I would like a room change please”. He seemed surprised that I would want to change room over such a small inconvenience, but all I could imagine was falling asleep and having the varment move from nibbling on Pringles to nibbling on my toes.
After the market tour, the three of us had another amazing dinner and caught a really neat
Fresh Spring Rolls
I think I ate about 20 of these. authentic local show at an upstairs theater house. We were twenty minutes late from dinner and figured we would slither in quietly, but it turned out we were the ONLY people who bought tickets to the one hour production, so the cast was all waiting for us to arrive. We took our seats and were treated to a really good musical performance of traditional string and woodwind instruments and a slew of dance and musical numbers from the ensemble cast.
This morning, the weather turned a bit gloomy and started to rain, but fortunately I had a plane to catch for a beachier locale…so off I go.
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Rebecca
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Your Gifts
Michael, I have known you since 5th grade, but I have never realized the talent you have in bringing so much life and color to both your travel stories and pictures. Thank you for taking me along your travels with you. I look forward to your updates!