The bus from Hue to Hoi An takes 3 hours with only a couple of stops. At Danang, An, one of the bus company’s employees, started talking to me. He served with the ARVN in the Americal Division during the war and we reminisced about ‘the good old days.” He offered to take us to Chu Lai but I think we will decline. As he says there isn’t anything to see. An isn’t a big fan of the communist regime; they not only deny him a government job, his children can’t get one either.
The old city of Hoi An is another UNESCO World Heritage site. After the hustle and bustle of Hanoi it seems small and quiet. However, it is very touristy with a lot of restaurants, shops and tailors and the busy riverside market sells just about anything. We found an inexpensive room at Thanh Binh 3, a very nice hotel just a short walk from the old city. We ate dinner Tuesday night along the river while the locals celebrated the night of the full moon with their monthly Hoi An Legendary Festival. We don’t know its significance – maybe to part tourists from their money – but it is colorful and festive. Kids sell lotus shaped candles that you float along the river and traditional music and drumming fill the air.
We are trying to budget our time now that our visa expiration date is drawing near so we hired a private car on Wednesday to take us to Danang to the Museum of Cham Sculpture. The Cham originally occupied the kingdom of Champa in south central Vietnam. Their wonderful Hindu inspired sculpture dates from the 5th through the 13th centuries but the Cham turned to Islam in the 1500s. The museum was nicely done and each room had descriptive handouts in a variety of languages so guides were unnecessary.
