Well the caramel corn was great and we had to go out again later for more and begin a yours and mine collection to prevent someone, myself, from eating it all. We were used to hurricane coverage from the US and when they come everyone prepares by covering things up and strapping down. Hanoi just kept functioning, no change. We watched TV for the first night in Asia and had a great time being lazy.
The next day it rained the whole day although we were very lucky the typhoon had turned north and avoided us. We only received rain and that was it. We spent the day watching National Geographic and strolling the Old Quarter just enough to eat and buy more popcorn. Chris enjoyed the good beer for $1 or the bad beer for $0.25.
The next day the rain had stopped and we went to the Military Museum near the Citadel and spent a few hours there exploring the exhibits: prior to the French take over, the French Independence and the large section on the American War. Again, interesting learning it from a different viewpoint. That evening we bought more popcorn in preparation for our long train ride and I walked around he rest of the evening with multiple bags of popcorn clipped to my backpack. Yes, I looked like a complete fool but it had it's advantages. The vendors came up to me asking if I was selling popcorn and didn't try to sell us any of their items. Yes I was laughed at but it was worth it for Chris.
That evening we picked up our bags from the hotel and took a taxi to the train station. As we were now familiar with the roads in Hanoi and where everything was within minutes, the driver turned the wrong way and acted like it was the right way, not the exact opposite direction. Christ pointed to our map and where we were and where we were going. Well guess who turned the right way. The trip ended up costing us 20,000 Dong more than it should have. Although it is only $1 it is really annoying being taken advantage of like that.
When we arrived at the train station, one of our hotel employees was waiting for us and he brought us and our bags to the correct car and cabin. We were sharing a cabin with a German couple. Chris and I in the upper berths and them in the lower. No chairs, just beds. As it was 11pm we climbed in bed and quickly realized just how cold and air conditioned car is. I was in my polar fleece and the girl below me was wrapped in sweaters and scarves. Chris slept well but I hardly did as I felt like we were lying in a refrigerator. We arrived in Danang at 1:30pm the next day after 14.5 hours on the train. We then drove to Hoi An and checked into our hotel. If anyone ever takes this train, it was lovely despite the temperature. The part from Hue (where the German couple got off) to Danang is along the coast anchor as breath taking views of the ocean.
Our hotel was great, they greeted us with tea, coconut cookies Chris fell in love with and bananas. That afternoon we walked around Hoi An in the lovely sunshine taking in the beautiful town. Hoi An was a busy port city from the 15th to 18 centuries and is now a UNESCO World heritage Site due to its European architecture and uniqueness. I loved this town with the silk lanterns hanging from every tree and the amazing food.
We first went to Bale Well, a local and tourist joint where the tourists pay double. As the amount of food looked like too much we shared a set menu for one as they only specialize in one dish. They bring out rice paper and a heap of greens, followed by pork satays and dipping sauce, amazing dipping sauce. Sauce just like the satay sauce in Singapore. They then bring out deep fried spring rolls. The lady then assembled our rolls for us as we had no idea what everything was for. Here is how you do it:
1) You pull apart two thin sheets or rice paper and place them in your left hand so they over lap but in opposite directions.
2) Next you take chopsticks and place a few greens in the rice paper and a slice of cucumber.
3) Then place the meat end of the satay in the paper and close your hand as you pull out the skewer to leave the pork in the correct location.
4) Then to make your fresh roll 100x better place a deep fried spring roll on top of the pork.
5) Put the chopsticks down and roll your sprung roll tightly.
6) Add some chiles to your dipping sauce and proceed to drip your fresh roll and consume.
AMAZING!!! MY FAVOURITE MEAL IN VIETNAM SO FAR!!!
There was enough fried spring rolls for us to have two each. Then they brought out two rice and egg pancakes and instead of the fried spring roll, you add that to the fresh roll. We each had one of those and in total had three giant fresh rolls each. How could this not be your favourite meal?
We walked around town some more checking out the shops before heading to dinner after our fresh roll snack. We went to the Morning Glory Restaurant and at first were freaked out by the prices but then had an affordable budget meal with each of us picking an appetizer and a noodle dish. Chris had a regional speciality of White Rose which is a dumpling with shrimp while I had a rice crepe with a veggie filling for appetizer. For main Chris had another region specialty (which we then ate for breakfast the following days) called Cao Lau, which is a noodle dish with pork and croutons, bean sprouts and herbs in a savoury broth. Dinner was amazing!
That night we walked along the river enjoying the lanterns and people. We quickly realized that locals believe tourists will buy things if they say 'happy hour.' For example, a lady selling coffee beans asks us to buy them, we say no thank you. Her next words are then 'happy hour coffee.' Or a little girl selling floating candles for the river, they suddenly become happy hour floating candles. We heard one man asking the vendor what happy hour peanuts were, if he bought one bag would he get the second one free? She just kept telling him the price and saying happy hour over and over. Then to make it better, bars seem to misunderstand the hour part and happy hour lasts the entire time they are open. So it is just the price in other words. Not sure if they realize happy hour means they give discounts to tourists or not.
The next morning we went on a tour to the My Son Cham ruins close by. They are Hindu temples and accompanying structures built in the 700s by the Chams and are similar to the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia just much much smaller. These ruins are over a large area but were very heavily damaged by bombs during the American War and now today most a just piles of rubble. The first section we visited was the largest and best preserved. Here we saw two temple, both without windows and with one door facing east. Meditation buildings and a middle building where you clear any remaining thoughts after meditation before entering the temple.
Something we found fascinating were the bricks making the buildings. There is no mortar between them. The bricks are of such good quality they hardly degrade and they are held together with a resin. The resin was heated when the bricks were applied and once the whole building was finished it was lined with wood and burnt to really solidify the structure. When the French 'discovered' the site they thought the buildings would fall apart so they added more bricks to the bases. However these bricks are of low quality and used mortar. As a result they are crumbling while the original are mostly still strong. See how fascinating these terra cota bricks are.
When we passed to another section the temple that once stood there was 28m tall until it was bombed, now it is also rubble.
In the last section we visited the local craftsmen and a few universities in Europe are using the original techniques to reconstruct the old damaged buildings. Really interesting as they are using the resin technique.
We took a boat back to Hoi An and ate baguettes with pineapple jam on the way. We stopped by a village on the way which contains numerous shops for wood carving and mother of pearl inlaying. It was neat to watch them work but the main industry in the village is boat making. We saw how hey cut and bend the wood to make these fishing vessels and took a few pictures. The boat ride back to Hoi An was a little rainy and it rained off and on for the rest of the day.
We bought a city ticket pass which allows you to visit five sites within he city from a list of maybe 20-30. We visited two Chinese Assembly Halls, a handicraft market, a family home which has been in the family for seven generations and a family temple.
The Chinese Assembly Halls were absolutely breathtaking. I fell like each one tries to out do the other with tiled splendour. They both had incense coils burning with the names of family members hung on the inside. We were curious how long they burn for and one had been there for five months with a ways left to go.
The handicraft market was just a ploy to make you buy things although you did get to watch them make the items. It was neat to see how they make the silk lanterns the town is famous for. We stayed to watch the traditional music show. The music was wonderful, the dancers looked bored stiff. The singer was great, but the opera singer was something else. She performed a number from an opera where her character is tricked into giving up her magic pearl which keeps her in her human form and she is changed back into a fox. I was expecting something weird as I have seen parts of Chinese operas before but watching Chris watch her was priceless. She screamed and jumped around the strange in crazy exaggerated movements, screamed some more and it just kept going. Very talented woman though, that could not be called into question.
From there we crossed the Japanese Bridge which was built in 1593 which is covered and contains a temple. We could have used one of our five tickets on this but seeing as it was a room we just looked in and took a picture. The bridge has monkey statues on one side and dog ones on the other. Construction was started in the year of the monkey and finished in the year of the dog.
The family chapel was interesting. The man who built it was the Army General for the king eight generations ago. Every generation since has worshipped and in term has been worshiped in this temple.
The family home of Tan Ky was neat. It was original and has been in the same family for seven generations. They still live upstairs. The public can only see the first floor but it is splendid. The one wall has markings of where various floods water levels have been and has pictures of boats going through the home.
That night we ate at the Mermaid Restaurant which has the same owner of our previous evenings meal. We had a snack of build your own spring rolls again but Chris held is moral compass and refused to pay the higher price when they changed it after we had eaten so we decided not to go back a third time. They had told us the price, so we ate, then when it was time to pay the price suddenly went up. Not nice.
I had banana blossom salad which was awesome and I am sure Chris had something nice too. But my salad was great! That night down by the river the water was beginning to come over the sidewalk. The locals said it was just the rain.
The next morning it was raining heavily and it didn't let up all day. We enjoyed spending the day lounging around our hotel talking with other travellers and eating at the hotel restaurant. We went for a short walk in our flip flops because the road outside our hotel was just over ankle deep in water. We walked down to the river and the water level seemed lower than the day before. At 7pm we caught the night bus for our twelve hour bus ride to Nha Trang, the beach Capitol of Vietnam.
Love,
Chel
xoxoxo
What a wonderful travel diary, makes me hungry just to read it. The photos are gorgeous too. Enjoy the final week of your trip and get home safe and sound.
ReplyDeletexoxo