Advertisement
Thanh Van Hotel
very nice hotel - pool is in a little courtyard so sometimes it rains! We spent four nights in Hoi An, which turned out to be one of our favourite places so far. Our hotel was great, really central, quite cheap (although not quite cheap enough - we haven't quite got the haggling thing down yet!) and had a nice little swimming pool. Nice to have the pool because the nearest beach was about 5 km away.
The old town is lovely and felt very quiet after the hectic big cities - hardly any traffic. Most of the roads are narrow and full of charming little buildings and shops. Lots of shops. We had sworn not to give in to the temptation of having new clothes made at one of the hundreds of tailors shops here, but even on the bus as we arrived we were looking at all the pretty things - lost cause! Alice got a new dress made, and a skirt, and I (Julia) got a skirt and a pair of shorts.
It's especially pretty along the riverfront at night, when all the lanterns are lit and reflect in the water. We found a nice Italian restaurant selling amazing homemade ice cream, which we ate sitting at the edge of
the river. It was also very cool - blissfully, mercifully cool. A couple of days were cloudy, and it rained a few times, which was lovely! English weather- why do we complain about it at home? As soon as the sun came out it was blisteringly hot again.
The town is small enough to walk round and see the main sights in an afternoon. There are a few Chinese temples and assembly halls, a 17th century Japanese covered bridge, and lots of old houses which belonged to wealthy merchants and traders. The houses are the most interesting - very dark inside as they have no windows, just a central courtyard which is open and lets in light and air (and rain!). When the floods come each year, all the furniture is moved to the upper storeys as often there is 3-4 feet of water on the ground floor. Most are still owned by the same family, who will offer tourists a cup of tea and a quick tour, before trying to sell some embroidery or similar. They got no joy from us but I think Hoi An attracts a lot of day tourists who probably do buy souveniers.
We went on a boat trip on the river for an hour- just us and the driver. He took us up the river to see some traditional fishing communities. There's not a lot else to see but it was peaceful so a nice way to spend an hour. The fishermen and women set up huge nets on stilts which they can lower into the water, and then raise up with fish inside - our driver didn't speak any English so we didn't get an explaination, but my guess would be that they can catch quite a lot of fish, and keep them alive for a while by leaving the net in the water.
We also went on a half day tour to My Son (pronounced mee sun), which are ruined Cham temples. The Cham people lived in Vietnam from the 4th - 13th centuries and the temples date from around the 6th- 8th centuries. The ruins are on a much smaller scale than the temples at Angkor and are haven't weathered the years so well. Most of the best sculpture that has survived is in the Cham museum in Da Nang. The temples are set in a nice valley
though so the scenery is good. The tour itself was made a lot better because we met some nice people on it. Hi to Mandy if you read this - we couldn't find you on Facebook!
Yesterday we got the bus to Hue, further up the coast. The bus was two hours late picking us up but we got chatting to a Chinese girl who was a doctor. She had done lots of HIV voluntary work in China and Zambia so Alice and her had lots to talk about HIV work in different countries.
The bus only took 3 hours during the day but it was a sleeper bus - i.e. had fixed bunk beds on it! They are quite common here. Quite an experience. Once we got settled it seemed ok and was actually quite comfortable.
Hue is the old Imperial capital where the Vietnamese emporers lived, so there's lots of grand temples and pagodas to go and see, as well as a Citadel with the Imperial Palace and Forbidden Purple City where only the Emperer was allowed with his eunuchs and royal concubines. We are doing a tour tomorrow. The Hue festival is on as
Buying bananas
She totally ripped us off! well, coincidentally, so we think there are lots of music and dance performances to go to as well, but we're finding it a bit difficult to figure out where things are. It's quite a big city as well so too hot really to walk anywhere.
Hope everyone at home is ok and looking forward to the World Cup! It's all on in the middle of the night here so we might only watch it if it gets really really exciting (England in the final, anyone?). Keep the messages coming!!
Love to all xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0461s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb