We arrived in Hoi An at 6:45 am, drained and exhausted, and found a nice room at the Phuong Dong hotel, complete with rice paddy view, which was a complete turnaround from the side-of-the-next-building view we'd been getting. Only caveat was that we had to hike 4 floors to the top. It gave our legs some exercise!
After a nap, we set out to explore the historical town that is Hoi An. We wandered the streets of the Old Town, stumbling across a bia hoi stop that actually had decent beer, and an owner who threw every glowing written review from Americans on our table for us to read. "Look, America - Oregon...Washington." "Oh yes, uh huh, thank you!"Hoi An is also known for its own special dishes, which we were keen to try. Our first was cau lao - slices of pork on top of rice noodles, with salad and sprouts. We thought it wasn't anything special, unfortunately. Our favorite dish was a "pancake" made of potato and egg, topped with shrimp, green onions, and sprouts. It was a bit like a potato latke/pancake:
Wontons are also big, so we tried the fried versions and soup version. Again, they kind of tasted like what we could get at home from a Chinese restaurant. White roses were the last culinary test, and these scored high. This is steamed shrimp wrapped in thin rice paper, and dipped in a soya sauce, they were delicious! We enjoyed these a few times. Also excellent were chicken rolls we made ourselves on the street side. We rolled chicken into rice paper with greens, rice noodle, and dipped them into a spicy peanut sauce:
Since it had started raining the day we got there (people were saying we brought the rain from Nha Trang; people in Nha Trang said we had brought the rain with us from Dalat! In actuality, several tropical depressions have been making their way up the coast from Southern Vietnam - and this is supposed to be the dry season up north!) we bought some full body ponchos just in case, and set out to explore the city more.But, we were halted by Anna's need to poke her head into one of the hundreds of tailoring shops in the town, "just to see" what prices were like for getting clothes made. Well, prices were great, evidenced by our new pants and a jacket! "Come back at 5:00" said the lady that morning. Just enough time for us to see some sights.
You have to purchase a sightseeing ticket that admits you to 6 select buildings and pagodas around Old Town, with the fee supposedly going to restoration and upkeep of these historical buildings. We saw a ceramic museum whose building was more interesting than the ceramics - and a great place to get caught in the rain:
Quan Cong Temple, founded in 1653. These are huge incense sticks sponsored by families, hanging all around from the ceiling of the temple:
A Japanese covered bridge, very solidly made in the 1590's:
And experienced a traditional folk music performance:
It was almost always cloudy while we visited Hoi An, but it did make for some colorful shots of the streets in the Old Town area - paper lanterns, shoes, and painting galleries are abundant on every street. And ladies await in their boats for people wanting a cruise around the river:
We returned to the tailor's later, and there were our new threads. Anna's coat fit perfectly, but both our pants required some additional work, so we went back after dinner to get our finalized versions. These 3 things set us back a whopping $40!Anna's jacket and pants:
The next day we boarded a bus to go to My Son Temples, about an hour outside of Hoi An. My Son was an important center of the ancient kingdom of Champa, with important Cham people sent there to study. During the Vietnam (American) War, we bombed the heck out of this holyland because the Viet Cong had used it as a base. It was yet another reminder of the war.It is not even close to Angkor Wat in terms of magnificence; it's a small area with some ruins. Also, our guide was the worst thing ever, a grating voice, repetitive speeches, and just annoying. So we explored on our own.
We have been disappointed with the last few organized tours we have been on, including the floating market tour in Can Tho, and this one, so we vowed to go on our own as much as possible from then on. We had been doing great in that regard, in Laos, Thailand, and Indonesia, but in Vietnam it's just as cheap and "easier" to sign up for a tour. We think it takes away from the real experience of getting there, and you can spend as much time as you want without. So, no more "tourist tours" unless we have to.That night after dinner, we bought a bottle of Vietnamese rum (rhum as they spell it), and some coke, and enjoyed our own cheap cocktails. We bargained the lady down, paying only 30,000 dong = less than $2! Bargain booze for sure! And it wasn't bad, very spiced, almost drinkable on its own.
We talked to our parents on Skype for a while the next morning, which was nice, as we actually found web cams that worked so they could actually see us and us them. We actually hadn't had it that good in a month or more, believe it or not! Then we rented bikes and rode off toward Cua Dai beach, several kilometers from Hoi An. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the nice (but windy) beach, people watching and turning away innumerable wandering everything-vendors.
Our time in Hoi An was coming to and end, but we really like this town, and hope to come back some day. The Old Town part is closed to motorized vehicles most of the day, which makes for an enjoyable walk, and the buildings are just so pretty. And of course, we could get a whole new wardrobe for a steal!
Our visas were running out of time, so we had to get north to Hanoi. That consisted of an early bus to Hue, a 5 hour stopover there giving us plenty of time to stretch and eat, then another night sleeper bus to Hanoi. And another sleepless night. Anna got the midget bunk, and spent the night curled up in order to fit. Advice to people who may ever take sleeper buses in Vietnam: don't get the front row upper bunks!
You can imagine that we also arrived in Hanoi tired and crabby, so we took the first offer of "come look at my hotel" that we got, and spent the day doing nothing. We were out of that hotel the next day, which was what we call our "crash pad" for one night. We found a more expensive but worth it hotel, the Prince II, which has the best thing we could ever ask for - free computers & internet in each room!! We've been taking advantage of this, as evidenced by our so timely blog this time, haha.
We had errands to do, including sending a big package of souvenirs home (lightening our packs by a few kilos!), finding a hair salon for Anna, and seeing one of Vietnam's famed water puppet shows. The package was easy, the hair salon was not so easy. But Anna finally found a place through an Hanoi expat website, and got her hair chopped by Dinh:
Yes, it's now shorter than Ryan's, and she'd been wanting since Saigon to cut it, so now it's done. That night, we took in a water puppet show at the Thang Long theater. It was interesting, and we are extremely glad we got to see one. Puppets are controlled from underwater by long sticks connected to the bottom of the puppets, and a traditional band accompanied. Hope the video explains it a little:We were planning on going to Halong Bay, a beautiful bay full of islands a few hours from Hanoi, the next day and spend 2 days there, but the next morning we woke up to pouring rain, lightning, thunder, and a flooded street! People were wading through up to their shins!
Boats don't even go in weather like that, and though we were bummed to miss Cat Ba Island, we were also fine with cozying up in our room. We'd been traveling for a while through Vietnam, so the break was nice. We have been wandering slowly around Hanoi for the past couple days, spending more time on the computer than we should be, avoiding the rain and trying not to get hit by motorbikes. We ate at roadside diners at mini tables on mini stools:
Ryan also finally tried Bird's Nest, a drink made from swiftlet swallow nests. They make their nests from a salivary fungus, and this fungus can fetch up to $2000 per kilogram in international markets! Well, he had to try that:
Today we finally found a supermarket that stocked things we needed, and we also bought our tickets into China! We are taking a bus from here, through the border, and on to Nanning.We have been in Southeast Asia for so long (since mid-January), and become so used to all the qualities that make it so, good and bad, that we can't say we're scared to leave, but it's a bit like leaving our comfort zone again.
Now, a few "Bests and Worsts of Southeast Asia" which includes Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam...
Best Big City:
Singapore and Saigon, Vietnam
Worst Big City:
Medan, Indonsia
Best Mid/Small Town:
Hoi An, Vietnam and Chiang Mai, Thailand
Worst Mid/Small Town:
Muang Sing, Laos
Best Island:
Koh Tao, Thailand
Worst Island:
Gili Trawangan, Lombok
Best Food:
Singapore and Hoi An, Vietnam
Worst Food:
Laos
Best Dish:
Traditional Khmer fish amok in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Worst Dish:
"Bruschetta" Lao-style: tomato sauce with garlic chunks swiped on some bread
Best Beach:
Koh Phangan
Worst Beach:
Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Best Beer:
Singha, Thailand
Worst Beer:
Bia hoi place in Nha Trang
