After a group breakfast of baguettes and omelette, we drove about twenty minutes into the rainforest to the Cuc Phuong Visitor Centre, where we split into two groups for either an easy or a difficult walk. I was persuaded by certain members not to chicken out but to come on the hard walk. In the fog and drizzle, the slipperiness worried me, but there were stone steps on all the climbs, only sometimes requiring close attention. Our guide, Viet, was careful to keep everyone together, and he stopped several times to point out trees or plants. He knew all the Latin names because he was trained as a forester, and he also knew their traditional uses. The forest was thick, not impenetrable. The trees stretched sixty metres into the sky. Lianas thicker than a human thigh ... read more

I am stretched out on a mattress so hard I thought it was wood! (Later I learned it was rubber, common here.) This night was spent at the Duc Tai Hotel in Huong Khe, on the Ho Chi Minh Road(formerly HCM Trail). Western influence is much reduced compared to more accessible cities. The hotel itself was elegant with deep red furnishings and dark wood furniture. Thuy told us that the owner used to have nothing, like so many Vietnamese, and through determination he became very successful. His business included a forest in Laos (about fifty kilometres from here), and he developed his wood furniture business. In the lobby were huge, magnificently carved chairs, sofa and tables. Leaving Dong Hoi this morning, our driver got lost. This wasn’t the first time, in part because he is new ... read more

I was woken at 5:50 this morning by exhortations emanating from the Party Committee building not far away. (These buildings are quite distinct – austere, yellow and white, fronted by a wide red banner.) Later Thuy explained that this loudspeaker service combines news stories for the illiterate and public announcements. (The literacy rate is high in Vietnam.) At breakfast a few of us got talking with a woman who was a professor for an international school teaching a course on environment to 31 students. The course consists of time studying in San Francisco (already done), this month in Vietnam, next month in Morocco and another month in Bolivia. She was startled to learn from us that Hoi An, their destination today, has even more tourists than Hue, not that we had seen much of Hue yet. ... read more

At 1:00 I crossed the street for the fitting of my “áo dài”. Hang greeted me cheerfully and led me to the fitting booths. The pants and dress felt unbelievably light, like feathers. Hang had to help me with the snap buttons on the raglan-sleeved dress. Looking into the mirror I felt so pleased to be in such a beautiful dress! The sleeves were too long, and the dress and pants also - I asked for the remnant from shortening the dress as a souvenir. The back darts were too tight; a seamstress ripped them out with such speed I was certain she was ripping the silk. Of course not! The finished garments would be sent to our hotel along with all the other orders. Then Janetta asked me to comment on the fit of Mary’s ... read more

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 expertis... read more