HOI AN TO SAIGON & HONG KONG
(Vietnam
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As far back as the second century and the Cham empire, Hoi An was a trading city. By the seventeenth century, it had developed into a major port. Ships from all over the world anchored there to participate in trading fairs. Chinese and Japanese merchants ended up settling and opening stores. Today, there are ethnic Chinese families who date back eight or nine generations. Much of the architecture contains classical Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese elements.
Currently, Hoi An is popular for shopping, tailor made clothes, architecture and beaches. The shopping consisted of handicrafts – hand carved, painted soapstone, hand made Chinese lanterns, wood carving, lacquer ware and embroidery. With over one hundred tailor shops in town, checking out custom fitted clothes was inevitable. Everyone, from young backpackers to five star tourists, was having dresses, suits, jeans, pants and shirts custom made.
Lois arrived armed for bear with twelve yards of material from her mother’s fabric store. The fabric, along with about one hundred dollars, resulted in a suit with matching jacket, blouse and skirt, a summer dress and two dressy dresses. Not wanting to miss out, Paul had a lightweight cotton suit made for sixty dollars. Depending on how well everything wears over the years, we’ll find out whether we got were robbed, got a deal, or got a steal!
About thirty miles outside of Hoi An is My Son, a religious site used by the Cham from the fourth through thirteenth centuries. We decided to go there on a “sunrise tour”. Of course, the problem was that we had to get up way before sunrise to get to My Son in time! Happily, our group of twelve had the site to ourselves. As we walked through the quiet ruins, we tried to imagine how it must have been hundreds of years ago when it was the center of Cham religious life. We guessed it was a lot less peaceful than our early morning tour!
Our final day in Hoi An was spent at the beach, a five mile bike ride outside of town. Our first thought was, “Why didn’t we come here sooner?” For about $1.25, we got the use of two low slung beach chairs, a large shade umbrella and a bathhouse. Women walking along the beach offered to sell us peanuts, cookies, candy, fresh cut mango, fresh cut pineapple, jewelry, sunglasses, manicures, pedicures and even back massages! We did have to put up with them asking, but we found them to be pleasant to chat with and not at all insistent. Plus, the pineapple was really good!
Our first impression of Nha Trang, our next destination, was a big city, but not too congested or noisy. We looked at a couple of hotels that were way too expensive ($12-$14!) but after about forty minutes found the Blue Star Hotel. It was a small family run place with very clean rooms that included air conditioning, cable tv, refrigerator, internet in the lobby and breakfast, all for the bargain price of ten dollars. The next morning, after breakfast, we found the beach was no more than one hundred feet away. Ah, life is good!
Originally, we planned to stay three days in Nha Trang but that quickly got extended to six. Here’s a description of a typical energetic day: get up, have breakfast, surf the web, chat with some other guests or the staff, go to the beach, get two cushioned lounge chairs under an umbrella ($2.50 for the two of us), buy some fresh cut pineapple from a vendor, watch the waves, have a coconut to drink, eat lunch, nap, read our books, have a chocolate mango tart, drink some beer and nap some more. Around 5:00, we would head back to the room and wash up for dinner!
We tore ourselves away from the beach for a trip to Po Nagar, an eighth century Cham ruin. As we biked there, we saw extensive preparations for Tet – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Crossing the last bridge out of Nha Trang, we saw Po Nagar and its towers overlooking the town. The ruins were in much better shape than My Son but it was being used by Buddhist worshippers who filled the inside chambers with burning incense and covered some of the statuary and walls with various banners. This gave it a much less special feeling than My Son, but gave us much more insight into what My Son would have been like in its day. Hmm, maybe we prefer ruins to in-use temples?
From Po Nagar, we biked to Thap Ba hot springs where we got a nice spa treatment. First, we took hot mineral water showers, then went to our private hot tub, where we soaked in a soupy mud bath for half an hour. We then sat in the sun, all caked in mud for a little while before taking another hot shower to get all the mud off of us (and out of our swim suits). The final part of the "treatment" was an hour soak in 110 degree hot mineral water. After all that hard work, we went to the pool where Lois swam while Paul slept. So, if you ever happen to be in Nha Trang, we can heartily recommend Thap Ba Hot Springs (www.thapbahotspring.com.vn).
After a warm goodbye from the family that ran our hotel, we took a long train ride to our final destination in Vietnam, Saigon, (Ho Chi Minh City). We went to see midnight fireworks in celebration of Tet. Once they started, we noticed cars and motos were stopping in the middle of the street so they could watch as well. The navigable part of the street got narrower and narrower as more and more people stopped to watch. Twenty minutes later it was all over and everybody began to head home.
Downtown, there was a large street closed to traffic. It had flower displays, a desert scene, a mountain scene and others for people to pose in while taking photographs. An evening parade included a pig (for the year of the pig), a number of long paper dragons, floats, music, fireworks and in the end, a truck with a huge supply of a traditional New Year's food - rice with a little minced pork steamed in Banana leaves. There were thousands of people in the street and it was a major mosh pit trying to get some of the rice & pork snack, but Lois used her long arms and sharp elbows to get Paul a sample. The whole thing reminded us of a cross between the New York Ciy Thanksgiving Day Parade and New Year's Eve in Times Square. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! (Happy New Year!).
From Saigon, we flew to Hong Kong where we had a three day layover. We stayed in Mirador Mansion, a sixteen story apartment buildings that has been divided and subdivided into guesthouses, restaurants and shops creating a giant maze. Our room measured seven feet by ten feet and included A/C, television, a fan, a double bed, a clothes bar, shower, toilet and sink - just very little floor space. The streets were very glitzy, with just about every name in electronics in neon on the sides of the skyscrapers. In between the tall buildings and in stark contrast, were narrow alleyways with small shops. We even got to see fireworks one more time since the Chinese and the Vietnamese were celebrating the lunar New Year on different nights.
Our one splurge, to end what was a wonderful trip, was afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel, a Hong Kong landmark. Tea for two was $55!!! More than we ever spent on a night's accomodation, three meals, transportation and museum admissions for one day for the two of us in Vietnam! Have we lost our minds? Nope. It was awesome. The hotel had high ceilings, wide columns, beautiful decorations, tea, and, most importantly, an incredible tray of finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, fruit tarts and chocolates. We just relaxed, enjoyed the food and soaked up the atmosphere.
Overall, we found Vietnam to be relatively easy and comfortable to travel through. We enjoyed a wide variety of activities, including hiking, bicycling, sightseeing, eating, drinking etc. The people were warm and welcoming, while at the same time eager to have us spend our money and happy to overchage us. As usual, we didn't cover as much ground as we had hoped. We missed the entire central highlands and the Mekong delta. Eventually, there will have to be another Vietnam Vacation. Thanks for reading and we hope everyone enjoyed it. Next up is "Wandering West Africa". What do you think? We are always interested in feedback on this and all other travelogues.
Final
Notes on
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$560 |
accommodation |
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$240 |
local transportation |
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$1100 |
meals, museums, incidentals |
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$455 |
Souvenirs |
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140,000 miles + $240 |
plane tickets |
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$48 |
Guidebooks |
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$2643 |
Total expenditure for 51 days in Vietnam and 3 days in Hong Kong |
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$9.50 |
average cost for a room in Vietnam |
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2235 |
miles traveled in Vietnam |
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THE END OF VIETNAM VACATION