Hoi An the town with Bee Eaters and a meeting of minds with a Aussie Cop

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2nd May 2009

We woke to the sound of rain again and worried about our journey back to the bus stop in the local town. A huge spider was on the ceiling opposite my side of the bed so I grabbed my camera and tried to get a shot in the gloom to no avail so I turned on the flash which I hate using and got a nice picture. The spider didn’t like it at all and immediately the flash went off he dropped from the ceiling to the fall. I wasn’t sure what species he was so I decided it was best out of the room especially as he was big enough to steal our bags. With care not to damage him I sent him the same way as Pili’s mice friends.

Our bike riders where prompt and again did a fantastic job even though the roads were in an even worse state than when we arrived. I gave them a tip and they were over the moon. I asked my rider were I could get a coffee and he pointed across the road to a small roadside café. Pili decided she’s wait with the bags while I had my caffeine fix. The café owner was a small guy approx 60yrs old; he welcomed me warmly and joined me for a coffee and a pot of local green tea. It was apparent that not many westerners came this way. He had a hundred questions for me including the regular ones, am I married, how many children and what football team do I support (every Vietnamese I’m met support Man Utd, at least they have good taste) before no time two of his friends also joined us. They were amazed at the size of my arms and I suppose to them I was massive, I was easily twice the size of all the men I’d seen in the village. I smoked a cigarette with my new friends and then the old man asked if I wanted a Vietnamese wife. I was caught totally off guard by this and told him I was with my wife and waved to Pili across the road. He laughed and replied that I should have two wives and his daughter who had served us drinks fancied me, she stood giggling in the kitchen doorway. Smiling I graciously declined his offer much to there amusement.

The bus arrived at 10:15am and it rained the whole 3hr journey. We were supposed to stop briefly at Da Nang which was only familiar to me from the film ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ with Robin Williams. We skipped this dreary looking town and headed straight to Hoi An and booked into the Thien Trung Hotel, complete with air con and swimming pool, we figured we deserved to comforts after our previous shed of a room.

After dumping our bags we set off to explore the town, we’d also arranged to meet the Aussie cop Nigel at 3:00pm at the ‘Salsa Bar’ which we had yet to find.

The town is famous for its many lantern and tailor shops, and they are everywhere. The streets are narrow and lined with French colonial cottages, all are well preserved and painted in pastel colours. The town is very clean and tidy which is a refreshing change from the litter in the north and south of the country. We finally came to the slow winding river gliding through the centre of the town. All down the water were large floats depicting Dragons and other animals from legend. These were their for the Full Moon Celebration at the end of the week. Unfortunately we found out about this after we’d left the town.

Across the river we found the ‘Salsa Bar’ which is also a diving centre, it was 2:30pm so we ordered a beer and chatted with one of the dive instructors while waiting for Nigel.

We waited until 3:15 but Nigel didn’t show, we phoned his hotel and the reception told us he had left in a taxi for town. Pili then remember that he said that if he couldn’t get to the Salsa Bar he’d meet us at the ‘Here and Now’ on Le Loi street, so of we went and sure enough Nigel was sat outside waiting for us.

We spent the afternoon chatting and laughing with our Aussie friend, he’s a really character, full of amusing stories and opinions and before we new it the clock was saying 6:00pm. Pili and I went back hotel to clean up and eat ant arranged to meet Nigel a little later.

Nigel was exactly where we left him earlier and we reconvened where we had left off. I’d also brought along my laptop because Nigel wanted to see my wildlife photo and paintings. He was really impressed with my work and blown away with the celebrities that I’ve met, especially David Attenborough and Patrick Moore, he asked me to email some photos to him when he gets back home to show his mother as she’s a big fan of both Attenborough and Moore.

We drank, played pool and generally had a great time. We also briefly met a South African brother and sister whose parents owned a Game Reserve in S. Africa. The brother was also a photographer and wildlife guide; he was very impressed with my work and we talked about wildlife and the ways we get close to our subject to get the best shots.

It was Nigel’s last night so we finally said goodbye at approx 1:30am, Pili and I were exhausted but we’d had a really great night with great people. We sloped back to our hotel and our fresh, clean and most importantly dry beds.

3rd May 2009

We woke up to more rain but the sun finally appeared in the early afternoon. Pili relaxed by the pool and read and went out with my camera exploring the local paddy field hoping fro some birdlife.

For the rest of the afternoon I sweated in the very hot sun got bitten by mosquitoes and photographed a couple of splendid Blue Tailed Bee Eater hawking for insects over the paddies. I was as happy as the proverbial pig in shit, these birds fascinate me with their agility and amazing colours and I watched them for hours as they would sit of a favourite perch, eyes scanning for any insects flying within range. They constantly twitch and react to any movement, making split decisions whether to launch from the perch to intercept a meal. They are not always successful, observing them I reckon about three out of five sautés are successful with a fat wasp of dragonfly. They then beat their prey to death on the perch and then toss them in the air and swallow them head first. I never get bored watching this wonderful behaviour from the jewel of the bird world.

Then evening came and it was really humid, we went to a little resturaunt next door to the hotel for dinner then retired to the comfort of the air conditioning of our room. I also discovered that the electricity was dodgy in our room and received a couple of electric shocks; the management when told didn’t seem to care and were no other rooms to change to. We decided not to bother looking for another hotel and that we just wouldn’t plug any appliances into the grid.

4th May 2009

Today we had thought of renting some bikes and exploring some of the local ruins and beaches, we vetoed it because of the inclement weather and decided instead to visit the local markets and look fro a good book shop that Pili had picked up a flier for.

The markets lay along the river banks as they always do. To my surprise the place didn’t stink of rotting meat and fish and everything looked pristine. I guess they’ve learnt that with a little ice meat keeps fresh and the tourists prefer it that way. We also saw several local craftsman, some chipping away at lumps of wood with chisels to produce beautiful carvings, others painting or working with silks or precious metals turning out a mass variety of souvenirs for the tourists.

We finally found ‘Randy’s Book Exchange’ across the bridge on the river. The owner was a larger than life & chatty American. He asked about our travels and then told me he was writing an alternative travel guide for Vietnam & Cambodia. He invited me to have a read which I accepted and I found it very good. I told him I had some similar ideas for India and I gave him a business card so that we could keep in touch as I’m interested in the final manuscript.

After purchasing a book Pili headed back to the hotel with a tuk tuk to get some more cash and headed to ‘The Sleepy Gecko’ bar. While I was walking across the bridge a English guy stopped his bike when he saw my camera and Gecko t-shirt, it was his bar I was now heading towards to wait for Pili.

The bar was right at the very mouth of the river and had a great view of the town. The owner who had invited me showed me some of his panoramic photos he’d taken of the local scenes. The were fantastic and I was totally shocked when he told me he used a small Lumix camera like Pili and a little time with Photoshop CS2, his results were stunning.

Pili arrived and we chatted and had a couple of beers and then the book shop owner arrived. The guys told us about the ‘Gibbon Experience’ in Loa and we checked it out on the laptop in the bar. I wish I hadn’t cause now we were pissed off to have given Loa a miss totally, oh well it’ll have to be next time.

In the evening we went looking for food, bread and stuff but instead stumble across a little, one room resturaunt away from the crowds and the lights. We decided to check it out and ordered chicken and vegetables with noodles. It took a little time to come but it was worth the wait. We were even visited by a large translucent Gecko underneath our table; it had caught a large moth and was trying to swallow it whole! His mother had obviously not informed him that it’s easier if you bite off the wings first like all other Gecko’s. After our meal we gave the lady owner a tip and she was most grateful. Even on our tight budget if we get what we order and pay for without the usual complication we always like to give a small tip as we know it makes a big difference to these hard working poor people, of course friendly service also goes a long way.

5th May 2009

After a late breakfast at the resturaunt next to the hotel we went to a travel agent to book our flight from Saigon to Bangkok. Pili got really stressed with the airline website and we missed a couple of real bargains. I told her to let the travel agent sought it out which she eventually did but it did cost double what the original flights Pili found on the web.

To help de-stress Pili we walked through the town after we’d checked out of the hotel. We had a 6:15pm sleeper bus to catch so we left the bags with the hotel.

Pili mostly window shopped looking at all the beautiful clothes. I wish we had the budget to shop because all the clothes were of top quality, made to order and cheap, many tourists visit Hoi An for this purpose only and I don’t blame them. Poor Pili will have to wait, we both really like to come back someday and treat ourselves.

While Pili drooled over the dresses I went and sat on the steps to the paddy field in the center of town. A local woman was knee deep in the water collecting some crops; I was more interested in the Blue Tailed Bee-Eaters that were hunting. Of course I captured these beautiful birds once again and the light was perfect.

At 6:15am with bags on our backs we arrived at the Sinh Café offices and caught our luxury sleeper coach. We were really pleased with ourselves that we’d secured the back seats on the upper deck, at last some comfort (how wrong can you be!!!)

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