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Published: April 12th 2012
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The next morning we set off on a walking tour of some of the historical sites on Hoi An with our guide Phat. It was absolutely sweltering and we were soon dripping. It felt like we were literally melting in the heat.
First we visited the Fujian Chinese Assembly Hall, which the sign outside had down as Phuc Kien (Fukien) Assembly Hall in the Vietnamese version! I'll post a photo to prove it! This building, built in 1857, was really elaborate with lots of intricate wooden carving all over the facades and highly decorated with bright colours. The gateway had 3 doors, the largest middle one only used for official vists. Two dragons guarded it from outside. There were paintings inside depicting the journey taken to Hoi An from China with Thien Hau, the goddess of mercy, helping them safely on their way. We also saw some of the spiral incense sticks hanging from the ceiling, but these were huge, apparantly burning for a month! The names of the people who had lit them were hanging beneath them.
We also visited a ceramics museum where there were a few displays of pots that archaeologists had discovered, some the expected
white with blue designs but also some plainer ones that weren't glazed. Also in the museum were photos showing the restoration work (before and after shots) showing how the historical buildings of Hoi An had been brought back to their original state. They also had a mock up of a roof showing the different Chinese style tiling.
We also stopped off at an old house where the lady explaining its history turned out to be from the fourth generation of families who had lived there. She showed us examples of the Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese styling in the building work. She also explained how the floor, marble from the mountains near Da Nang, was better during the annual flooding they had to put up with. There was a pillar in the house where she had marked off the heights of the bigger floods. One, in 1964, was higher than El when stood next to it (see photo below). The house didn't have windows at the sides but was open at the front and the back to help with air circualtion and also for reasons of fen shui too.
Last on the whistle stop tour, it was so hot
we didn't want to linger too long in the heat, was the Japanese Bridge, built in 1592 to link the Japanese and Chinese communities of merchants who had settled in the area. It actually took 3 years to build starting in the year of the monkey and ending in the year of the dog and a monkey and a dog guard each end of the bridge.
We all split up at this point, various fittings and the like to complete. Mine was a little later so I wandered around the pretty streets, buying a few bits and pieces. I wandered into a book shop that I had noticed had some English titles. I got myself a novel about the war written by a north Vietnamese man, which should be really fascinating. Then (get this Tom if you're reading this) I was amazed to find a book by the fab Noam Chomsky 'At War With Asia' sat on the shelf! I just had to buy it - 80,000 dong, bargain! (that's about two pounds!).
Later as I was wandering back through the market on my way back to the hotel I was bargaining with a little lady on one
stall for a couple of jade rings. Her tactics were hilarious. 'How old lady, how many childen, oh so beautiful, so young for your age! Oh lady, no, cheap cheap, happy hour. See real jade!' as she put a lighter under the rings to prove they didn't burn! Well how could I resist such sales patter. Thumb ring and ring bought, done deal, done I probably was lol. And so back to the hotel to plunge into the wonderfully cool pool. Eventually the beetroot face subsided! Ssssssssssss!
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