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Published: March 19th 2017
Our breakfast was taken in a large “room”, roofed but open on all sides. I have been enjoying Vietnamese breakfasts, which today consisted of a thickened chicken soup and vegetables with noodles, plus my own addition of egg bread, so I could taste the tangy lemon jelly.
We drove most of the way back north to
Da Nang, turning off for
My Son, an important Hindu temple site. The Cham people are more original to this area than the Vietnamese; however, their population is small now. Their historic culture extended from the first to the twelfth century. The original wooden temples burnt down; what we saw were the tumbled remains of their brick temples. My Son is a
UNESCO World Heritage site, and a number of countries have contributed both money and expertise for the restoration or rehabilitation of the buildings. Some of this work has been done more sensitively, some less so. The most valuable artefacts have been moved to the
Cham Museum in Danang. A few of the interiors have been fixed up to display some remaining bits of fresco and statuary. These Hindu temples are mainly dedicated to Shiva, and there is some similarity to the Angkor complex. Thuy explained that when the
Khmer (historic Cambodians) conquered this land they sent slaves to Angkor to work on their temples, and when these craftsmen returned to their Cham homes they brought back the influence of Angkor.
Hundreds of tourists were wandering around and following their guides, who were speaking Italian, Japanese, English, Russian and Vietnamese, which gives a flavour of how internationally important is this site. It is a well-curated tourist attraction with parking, washrooms, gift shops, maintained paths, and a pavilion for Cham dancing and musical performances. The dances are similar to those of Cambodia and India. I recognized the “carrying water” dance from the performance in
Siem Reap, although this one was more stylized. The second performance featured a famous player of a special wind instrument, accompanied by drums and local guitars; unfortunately, to western ears this was just screechy noise. Then the
Apsara dancers offered a very sophisticated performance, with graceful, difficult and highly controlled body, limb and finger movements.
As we drove back to Hoi An, I confirmed in my mind that nearly the whole distance, about an hour’s drive, was settled. Some rice fields interrupted the stream of shops and homes, but always houses were nearby.
In
Traditional Cham dancing
Sophisticated and skilled the central historic district the entry of vehicles is restricted, although motorcycles seemed to take liberties. Our lunch was at Miss Ly’s, the first post-war restaurant in Hoi An. The family lives next door. The menu has their story in it and two pages of family photos. Miss Ly’s mother sat on a stool between the restaurant and the kitchen, dressed and made-up very nicely. Standing in approximately the same place, Miss Ly’s husband, who is a New Yorker, was helping tourists find their way through the minuscule kitchen to the washroom. The kitchen consisted of three medium concrete tables and a side room with a little grill on the floor not far from the tap. Dubious sanitation perhaps, but the food was delicious and the restaurant is well patronized. A most authentic place!
After lunch we set out on a walking tour of the main sights in the historic district. We stopped at a rare combination: Buddhist pagoda and Fukien Chinese temple, dating from the time the Fukien were refugees from China. The main goddess of the temple was a woman who saved her people by “seeing” a ship wreck, enabling the sailors to be rescued. On the
Fukien carp sculpture
Lovely colours and shapes wall was a magnificent mural of the woman serenely floating above the churning sea and the failing ship. Further along the street was an historic (1719) Japanese covered bridge, indicating that Hoi An has always been a place for refuge. Nearby was a heritage house, still privately owned, that was open to tourists as the family business. The house was quite sparse, made of ironwood, which explained its long life, and enclosed on the street-front by traditional Vietnamese shutters that could be closed during bad weather and yet could be easily removed during hot weather. Embroidered tablecloths and napkins and paintings were very much for sale.
The end of the walking tour signalled the beginning of shopping at the tailor’s, Thu Thuy, where our guide Thuy gets all her stylish clothes made. (Thuy was not permitted to take us to any shops, but we were welcomed to follow her. Of course we did!) The owner, Madame, knew we were planning to have clothes made, so assistants immediately came to us. Hang asked me what I wanted; by now I knew - Ao Daii, the traditional silk outfit, which consists of loose pants and a coat-style top fitted to the
waist and floating to the ankle. Hang took me to the appropriate patterned silks and helped me quickly select two: an acid rose pink and a rich deep red. We looked at them in the mirror, and I asked Phyllis her opinion. She favoured the pink, the direction I was tending, so that was settled. Before we discussed too much about style, I asked the price in case it was well outside my budget. She called Madame over for this discussion. At US$185 it was indeed much more than my estimate and more than I wanted to pay. I stood silent for a bit. She said it could be made without a lining for US$155. Although undoubtedly better with a lining, I agreed because I will need a camisole in Calgary anyway. Hang and I selected design features, such as long sleeves, curved mandarin collar, and button closure (snaps and hooks and eyes). Later we added black piping made from the same silk as the pants.
Then Madame took my measurements – about forty of them! Hang wrote them down. I paid a deposit, and the fabric immediately went off to the tailor. I joined the others who were
finishing their transactions. Thuy came back and worked out with Madame that tomorrow afternoon we would have fittings.
We walked back to the hotel for a couple hours of free time - a badly needed cup of tea for me.
">View video of Cham dancing.
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Traditions
Love traditional dance performances. Good job