Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An 2

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 at 10:51 Hoi An..

Morning boat trip to two viliages producing pottery and wooden carvings. Meet 90 year old woman still spinning pots. Buy table thingy for holding dips. The wood carving is unbelievable....see a guy making mother of pearl inlays on all manner of things....apparently he's world famous. We buy chopsticks and three wooden hangings with Happiness, Wealth and Longevity symbols....trouble is, they weigh about three tons and are sitting in my back pack......

Finish the morning with Man taking a few of us to a cheap backstreet restaurant for lunch. We choose famous rice noodle dish..only in Hoi An. Great! Sue has a swim in the afternoon and we explore the small town in the evening, having drink and great meal. George calls back while I am jn the middle of the road surrouned by motorbikes but I survive....getting the hang if staying alive here. Good day..time to pack..again!

NB We both feel that we are getting a feel for the gentle Vietnamese....and we really like these people and their country....more in Vietnam summary.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An

Tuesday, 12 March 2013 at 08:03 Travelling to Hoi An..

Coach journey 4 hours inc stop but, as ever, interesting talks from Man (really) the guide and utterly engaging views...people, houses, scenery. Coffee stop at a high mountain lakeside cafe and also stop at high point on mountain pass before reaching Da Nang and see relics of the 'American' war.

Da Nang being rapidly developed for mass luxury tourism trade....still a bit like a building site. SAGA now using one of the hotels...will need to watch that lot at night. Casino only for tourists as nationals not allowed to gamble...Removing money from rich tourists in this way must seem like a good strategy to the administration though. Visit Champa museum and learn more about these Hindu people and the battles for southern Vietnam. Begin to better understand the history behind the range of religions in Vietnam. .....

Enter Hoi An after 4 hours or so and immediately visit textile factory....see silk manufacture from silk worms through to garments...and it's fascinsting. Try on shirt and get hard sell but all good fun. Also visit old house and Budhist temple.

Hotel great and impressed by Hoi An...looking forward to tomorrow.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hue

Monday, 11 March 2013 at 16:15 Hue

Walk to pick up a dragon boat (floating shop with steel dragons on the prow) and chug up the perfume river to see Thien Buddhist Pagoda... something inexplicably moving about a Buddhist prayer sesson.....see the ancient Austin Cambridge from which the first monk to set himself on fire here in 1963......

Then off to the citadel to see the Palace of Supreme Peace where restored shrines to 10 of the 13 past emperors are kept. So many people come to pray at these shrines.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hue

Sunday, 10 March 2013 at 15:40

Drive back to Hanoi & catch Vietnam Air flight to Hue.
On arrival we are ferried to another good Vietnamese lunch in a local restaurant. On the way we stop to see incense sticks being made and are sucked in to buying a pack before heading off to see the grand tomb of EmperorTu Duc, built to resemble a palace. Apparantly old Tu Duc was a bit of a tyrant and had 50 chefs cooking a course each of which he chose only the best (imagine Masterchef x 50). He also beheaded his wife No1 for waking him up and topped all the people who placed him in his part of the vast tomb thus keeping the secret of where he lay (but how did he do that??).

Visit Dong market on the way to the hotel.....imagine a more polite Moroccan Souk. Hotel great in a grand 5 starish way but not enough plugs for the gadgets.
Great group meal in the evening...consume to largish bottles of the local brew and then walk around with the only other vaguely adventurous couple sampling the atmosphere which is pretty damn good here while the rest go back on the coach. Guess the rest are worn out...and I can understand that.
Return to the hotel and have cocktails in the courtyard together. Sue has a Pina Colada and I have the usual whisky sour. George calls and then, after trying to find the noisy treefrogs, we lurch off to bed.

Another good one....but just a slight niggle developing about this style of tourism....why can't I just get on and enjoy it?

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Vietnam Adventure: Ha Long Bay

Saturday, 9 March 2013 at 15:39 Ha Long Bay
Long coach drive to Ha Long Bay to board a dodgy looking Junk in which we lunch and cruise amongst the famous limestone islands and pillars of Ha Long Bay...one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It's slightly spoiled by tourist junk traffic jams in places and the government decree that all junks must be painted white..which, of course, doesn't stay white. Still magic though.
Check in at the very modern Novatel Hotel (we like). After sorting ourselves out we dine in at the good, reasonable restaurant then take a walk into town, which is a bit like a Vietnamese Southend. Enjoyed though....visit a night market and buy some coasters. ......and so to bed. 

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Vietnam Adventure: Hanoi

Friday, 8 March 2013 at 11:36 Out with group....Hanoi

Coach ... visit Ho Chi Minh's Mauselium in Revolution Square... Set at foot of an imposing large square with guards in white uniform...guard changes every hour.
Next visit Palace built for HCM ....he refused to live in it and preferred more humble accomodation, also visted. Also see his cars (inc Russian Zil).
Next a somewhat terrifying hour in a rickshaw being propelled into the Hanoi old-town traffic..engulfed in a sea of motorcycles charging in all directions, including completely opposite to the flow of traffic. Still alive at the end , so gave a 50,000 D tip, which should do for a good beer.
Very interesting tall, thin French colonial style houses....result of tax on width of frontage apparantly. Luch in a decent Vietnamese restaurant...about 5 rounds of various delightful food. Not much wheat used..mainly rice based. Hanoi beer pretty good. A beer is typically 40,000D and a glass of basic wine around 650,000D. Looks like beer from now on...
Visit old Confucian school where many students still come to pray for good luck in their exams....Vietnamese extremely superstitious apparantly. See traditional music group and, of course, buy the inevitable CD.
Finish up with a visit to a water theatre...live music very interesting but starting to struggle a bit with jet-lag so the puppets, although ingenious, are a bit of a struggle. Just us and one other couple elect to stay in town for a meal.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hanoi

Wednesday, 6 March 2013 at 17:37
Here we go again.... At Heathrow catching Thai airlines to Bangkok and then on to Hanoi...SAGA trip and then 10 days with daughter Georgina who is working in Ho Chi Minh City...long time no see ! Thai airlines....quiet, efficient, brilliant service. Great four course lunch.....opted for Thai curry. Three glasses of iffy red but hey! Presentation, efficiency and service as you might expect in this culture. This Airbus has been transformed into a piece of Thailand and it's wonderful. Bit of a contrast with Dutch KLM culture (and the size, shape and style of cabin crew) as good as that is. I want to visit Thailand next please.
Very impressed by Bangkok airport..see pic....find a machine to email the girls and then onto another airbus (A380) direct to Hanoi...about 1.5 hours. The gluten free I ordered at Heathrow magically appears before me...that's two breakfasts today. That's impressive logistics though...and brilliant service again.
Will try and find the time to pick up a Vietnamese SIM card at Hanoi airport before we are (hopefully) whisked away to our hotel.
Ok....got the card with one month's data & talk for one million dhong...er, that's about 36 pounds..all working. Hotel great..taxi to town, phone G, coffee, taxi back then welcome dinner..meet the 31 SAGA tourists. Not a bad bunch. Admit to being SAGA virgins. Knackered......
Oh, yes..... Vietnam's wonderful.

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