Our
flights from Con Dao Island through HCM City and then to Da Nang went without
incident even though there was some claggy sort of weather to fly through. Hoi
An is an old city and is rated a UNESCO World Heritage site. There were old
buildings in the old town centre showing history of Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese,
and local Vietnamese. Most of the buildings are now used for selling stuff to
tourists. They seem to have 100 shops all selling little trinkets and cloth
bags and the like but they also have suit making and shoe making services. Both
boys lined up for suits to be tailor made. Hayden had second thoughts so bought
two. Blair had a pair of shoes made. Measurements are made and first test
sizing is 24 hours later. Within 48 hours suits and shoes are made and packed
for travel back home.
While
in Hoi An we also did a cooking class. Firstly we walked to a village garden
area and looked at different plants and herbs - all very interesting. We had an
excellent English-speaking guide and she got us underway making some “creations”
out of vegetables. We made a variety of things and mostly looked quite good to
us. We manufactured spring rolls and then cooked them. Everything turned out
perfect. At Blairs insistence we have eaten spring rolls on every day we have
been traveling. Surprisingly rarely have there been two the same. It seems that
they are always made with different ingredients, from raw fish to deep fried
beef and veges….I trended away from the raw stuff. We also spent most of a day
cycling in Hoi An, picking up a few geocaches and dodging rain showers. In the
evening there was a lantern Festival in the old town so we had a wander for a while.
It gets a bit hectic after a short time with motorbikes going in all directions,
people running interference on every street and not less than half a dozen
peddlers doing their utmost to sell you something that you need or want. It is unbelievable
how determined a sun glass seller can be when he sees that you are wearing
tinted prescription glasses but still seems to give himself a reasonable chance
of making a sale.
Away
from Hoi An we drove to Hue, about 4 hours north. We had another 2 nights in
this city where the children took a full day tour of sites and Diana and I did
a bit of wandering and cache hunting. Just happened to be a geocache at a
temple that we hadn’t seen so we took a boat ride down the Perfume River for a
look. “Perfume” is hardly the right word for the body of water that carries
anything and everything along with it. I must say that the Vietnamese are at
least aware of littering but they are light years away from getting on top of
the rubbish problem.
Another
flight out of Hue had us in Hanoi the capital city and the stronghold of the
Vietnamese during the American war. We took an afternoon guided tour of Ho Chi
Minh museum which gave us a good insight
to the struggles that HCM the man went through, to obtain power, enforce
communism, try to get his people out of perpetual confrontation with foreign
countries and out of poverty. Seems they aren’t under attack these days as they
have been over the past 200 years but the poverty is still prevalent. In saying
that we see no beggars and no one hassling us just for money. They will try and
sell you something you don’t want and even just asking the price is a sale as
far as they are concerned.
We
had an overnight excursion to Halong Bay where we boarded a junk with 12 others
and were treated royally while floating among the kharsts in the bay. This is
quite a big tourism business and I found it most enjoyable. We had an excellent English speaking guide
who insisted we call him 007 or James Bond for reasons that I missed when he convincingly
explained them. James was able to answer all our questions, some before we even
asked them and in the evening played us songs on a 2 string banjo come ukulele/guitar
type of instrument. He was very good I thought but not the strongest in the family
to make statements on the performance of any said musician.
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| Our junk with the sails |
Back to Hanoi we have had a couple of days with shopping, massages and packing our bags. We squeezed in a water puppet show of traditional Vietnamese ways of life. None of it was in English but we got the gist. Some of the family thought it was entertaining but not all. We agreed, as it is with any experience, even the bad experiences are worth having and all add to the quality of the travel.
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| Have pots will travel! |
We’ve
had a great trip so far and are beginning our goodbyes this evening as Blair
and Meghan leave us for Vancouver in the morning while Hayden, Sarah, Diana and
I will be out of our hotel with the sparrows and on our way to Auckland via Hong
Kong and home on Wednesday.
