Hoi An is supposed to be one of the cultural and historical hot spots for Vietnam, holding onto the 'old' country feel. Considering the good reputation it has in the travel guides, being on the coast and the hundreds of excellent clothing tailors...it is surprisingly small. Many old buildings still stand, and it has a slight European flare to it's food and fashion...all in all, we enjoyed our time in Hoi An, despite the inescapable harrassment by merchants and kids. After a few days apart, we again met up with our friends Rory and Shona while walking down the street, out of chance, and enjoyed our first meal of many together. Julia was in heaven after discovering a proper european bakery with cheap 'pain au chocolat' for 30 cents a piece...and I eventually caught on to the delicious pork sweet steamed buns and the BBQ pork skewers sold on the street. With the intention of outfitting us both with some snazy and personally tailor-fit business clothing (for when I finally get a job), we headed out into the sea of salespeople looking for the best of the best. You didn't have to look very hard though, but the constant badgering turned us off clothing almost completely...and so I settled on the decision to get some tailor-made leather dress shoes instead. At 20$/pair...you can hardly go wrong and the 2 pairs I bought ended up being beautiful. It was VERY tempting to get some suits...but again, the hassle dealing with the people, carrying them, mailing them home, etc.etc. all added up to us avoiding the hassle. Julia did eventually get a few tops made...very nice and reasonably priced. There was just such a HUGE amount of STUFF...EVERYWHERE...CHEAP STUFF too...hard not to be tempted into buying some of everything we didn't need, but we did well and only purchased a VERY few items. However, we might not have been thinking clearly when we bought the 'lamp-shade' style vietnamese straw hats. We love them, and think they'll be great for using or decoration...and at 1$ each, we figured it might be worth the risk of destroying them before we get home. Julia took to wearing hers at times...and looks very vietnamese indeed.
SO...much of our time was spent during the days walking around looking at all the things we were sick to death of seeing, wanting, being persuaded to buy, etc., and lost all taste for shopping. We saw plenty of old architecture, and just enjoyed wading through the markets, along the river, etc. We took an hour river boat ride from an old man who looked near death. We figured our ride might put him over the edge...but the man, skinny enough to look like his clothes were hanging on a hangar, able to shade his small body entirely with his straw hat, toothless but one or two brown ones remaining, handled the boat with ease and took us a decent distance in his shallow wooden boat with a very wierd but seemingly efficient paddling stroke. At night...the four of us would come together todescribe our various adventures over decent meals and copious amounts of what they call 'fresh beer...or Bia Hoi in Vietnamese'. At 15cents per glass...it was hard to stop at only 1$ worth...but we were often full after 2$ of beer. The food we enjoyed was also amazing!! Spring rolls, crab and corn soup, five flavoured fish wrapped in banana leaf, pork in a clay pot, stir fried veggies in garlic, rices, fruits, egg and bean sprouts wrapped in rice paper with green banana and herbs with peanut sauce, meat skewers, etc.etc.etc. No shortage of good food.
Julia and I watched some of our newly purchased pirated movies for 1$ each the first night...my introduction to Raina and Teressa's recommended 'Brokeback Mountain' was a bit of a shocker to say the least...but a good break from the noise. A classic example of Vietnamese hassleing came when Shona and Rory biked to a nearby beach and were asked to pay 5000 dong to park their bikes. Being the deal hungry travellers they are, Shona noticed a sign board, hidden by overgrown bushes, that parking a bike should only cost 500 dong...and were yelled at when they actually gave the guard the proper amount. We later heard a guest in our hotel ask if it was normal that he should have to pay 40,000 dong to park his bike there when renting the bike for the entire day only cost him 10,000 dong (60 cents). Frustrating...but they will take FULL advantage of any naivety they can here.
We left after 2.5 days here with our bags of shoes, shirts, purses, straw hats and silk embroidery...tired, but happy to have been. Oh...by the way, the silk embroidery I speak of is a small sample piece I want to show people at home!! THey are AMAZING pieces of art, and if I had enough $ to get more and bigger ones...I definitely would!! I have the contact information for this reputable business...and would recommend that if anyone wants a VERY unique and quality piece of art...they should consider this. For a bigger piece...about 2 feet by 3 feet...it'll take these people 3 months to make them, stitch by stich of real silk made from the worms grown in their shop...until they have made something that from a distance of 5-10 feet looks as good as any oil painting and only charge about 250-300 US dollars. VERY nice and you can have them make a personal picture you send to them!! Anyway...off to Hue. We didn't plan to stay in Hue...except that the bus was full to leave to Hanoi that same night...so we ended up spending a night in Hue. The drive from Hoi An to Hue is supposed to be the best bus ride in Nam...and it was actually VERY pretty with rolling mountains both on land and in the water, vast rice fields with the huge horned water buffalo and the straw hatted labourers working the fields, cliffs, sea-side views, etc.etc. Once in Hue...we did the usual routine of finding a room, walking around, doing a little e-mail and finding a good place to eat. Much to our disappointment...we forgot a few items on the bus, one of them very precious being Julia's FAVORITE piece of travel clothing...and very nearly forgot our 70$ worth of art we've carried since Cambodia. Shitty...stupid...but one of the things we have to deal with on the road.
We ate at a restaurant that night that had some live Vietnamese music playing. Not bad...twangy and different...but neat to see at least once. During the next day, we took a boat tour that would take us to several pogodas, tombs, and markets. We went into this tour with our eyes open however...not going to be the stupid tourist suckered out of as many $ as possible. We knew we were sick of pogodas and tombs, and we knew that they'd not be as impressive as the ones we have already seen...but, for 2.50$ for both of us for 8 hours of tours and lunch included...it seemed worthwhile to prove ourselves right once again and have a day doing something different than walking around another bustling town! The boat was a large-ish space...big dragon heads decorating the front end. I think it doubled as a families living quarters while not used by tourists...but it chugged along the river, slowly, giving us a view of the dozens of other river boats at work. Fishing as usual, but MANY of the boats we passed were carrying big loads of sand and gravel...sometimes enough to bring the sides of the boat within a few inches of being swampped. We still didn't know why...but noticed that they were taking this sand and gravel from the bottom of the river bed and trasnporting it to specific piles along the river bank. Strange. Again though...these boats double as houses, playgrounds for kids, floating markets, etc. We saw one kid perched on the side of the boat with a long turd waiting to drop into the river that was splashing us in the face (kidding...we weren't getting splashed...but plenty of locals were swimming in it...typical though). For every stop...it was possible to spend about 5 times the worth of the trip getting to and from and entrance into the sites. The sites were somewhat impressive tombs...vast and old...built for past emporers and that sort of person. Julia and I wisely only visited 1 of them, and spent our time wandering the shore in the peace and quiet, and the blistering heat!! It was SO hot and humid...we mostly sat in the TEEENY Tiny furniture with a cold drink to keep us alive.
Finally off to Hanoi for the last stop on our vietnam route. The bus ride was the typical bumpy, swervy, beepy ride with frequent food stops at their family restaurants. As the bus lights were off, I struggled to read by the red light of an emergency exit sign...Memoires of a Geisha...wonderful book we both found enchanting and romantic and so different. It's neat to read those things when immersed in a similarly foreign culture...makes them all the more fantastic! We arrived at 7am and made our way to the very hotel where Rory and Shona were...and once again reunited for the last time for a 2-day, 1-night boat trip in Halong bay. Hanoi was pleasantly cool...a huge change from the day before, we quickly realized we'd need our shoes and long clothes again. It was so refreshing, and reminded us of home (a little). This is, unfortunately, the same day and place Julia realized she'd lost her hooded trekking shirt, and it nearly sent her to the nearest travel agent to buy a ticket home. Poor girl...we're feeling the effect of travel now...having not really stopped moving for 4 months now, like the littlest hobo...we find different beds so often now that despite having amazing adventures and new and neat things to do all the time...it wears on your soul, and makes us want to be home with familiarity in our friends, family, country, cuisine, etc. Anyway...after no good sleep, being cold outside, and the frustration of loss...Julia had a day in bed, reading, watching TV and being warm. I walked around with Rory and Shona (who were similarly feeling the effects of travel at that time)...went through markets, looked at the town, ate some cheap roasted and delicious pork, and had a few fresh beers. We intended to see the famous water-puppets that night and depart on our Halong bay boat trip the next morning...but the puppets were sold out, so Julia and I delayed our bus tickets to Laos by 1 day (shitty...as Laos is supposed to be AWESOME!), but figured it worth seeing the puppets just once, and didn't mind the cool and feel of Hanoi. Rory and I, with much laughter, read the menu at our chosen watering hole which contained things like...boiled pig ovary, solid small intestine, fried or boiled dog, and miscellaneous chaffing. WOW...DELICIOUS...served with a side of fingernails and perhaps some sort of sticky discharge...it'd be near perfection! haha.
Halong Bay...Rory and Shona had hunted for the best bargain of a trip...and at 27$, they discovered that we had in fact found the best deal! The problem was...all the hundreds of different travel agents who sold this trip to people...rangin in price from 27-35-50-95$!!! all told their customers lies. They said it'd be small groups, filled with luxury the whole time. It's just too good to be true in Vietnam I think. We were crammed onto a small bus for the 3 hour ride there (no lying down like promised), our 14 person boat was actually more like 30 (although we slept with only 16 on the boat), and the bus ride home almost ended up in a fist-fight as the bus company was trying to stuff so many people on board, with no room for legs let alone baggage...that people had had enough!! HAving said that...the trip was pretty cool. With about 100 identical boats int he harbour...all wooden 60 foot beauties outfitted with a viewing/sun-tanning lounge roof, a large dining hall, and 8 luxury bedrooms. The trip wasn't going to be private or unique...but it was a neat thing to do. We were served excellent and plentiful food throughout (a bit too much deep fried shrimp shit for our liking though...inside joke), we visited a HUGE and impressive grotto (containing a rock known as 'the power of man'...looking like a huge boner they've highlighted with a red spotlight), the people on board our boat were VERY nice...and we met a nice Polish couple named Jerry and Dorota...well, not a couple...but friend travellers...and some older people too that we didn't spend much time with, but enjoyed their company (including an older couple from france we dined with and I spoke with at length over our cheap wine and brandy), all the while, boating through a very mystical setting of huge rock outcroppings jutting out of the south china sea...3000 islands in this one bay alone...they went on for miles! We dropped off half of the passengers on a small island, including the pair of Poles...and went to our docking point. We passed by substantial floating villages, hundreds of houses all there to fish farm...and all of them with surprisingly big, noisy and well fed dogs. Our first thought was that they were food, but it turns out that piracy is very real here, and the dogs are purely for protection. It was funny watching them scamper along the thin wooden paths floating on barrels, barking at our boat. We docked in a solitary and beautiful spot...and Rory and I decided to have a chilly, but refreshing swim (seeing there were no Kayaks as had also been promised!). I also discovered this night...after working up the courage to ask...why the HELL the male vietnamese grow their mole hairs. As it turns out...it's kind of a super-stitious thing I guess...but they say that they get sick when they cut them. So...better to look sick that get sick I guess...they grow them for life, and sometimes, they can reach 1 meter in length. There's even an annual 'mole-hair' competition where they measure the longest and nicest ones! WOW! We dined well that night, and went to work on the bottle of Sake (for Julia and I after reading all those Japanese books...we need to test it out), a bottle of local, but very drinkable Brandy, some beers, and wine. It was our goal to get a little tipsy and talkative...as Rory and Shona have been asking that of Julia constantly...she finally sucame! haha. We did get chatty anyway, and had a good time with the four of us, growing closer with the neat experience and the liquid honesty...all was well. The haunting scenery of the night topped it off with the smooth water, the dark mountains and their perfect reflections hiding the coast-line alltogether...and adding the the eerie look of the place. Being forced to bed by 10:30...we had good sleeps with cozy covers in yet another boat cabin.
The morning brought us much of the same scenery on the way home...much time was spent reading, listening to music, chatting with the other boat guests, dining together one last time on land, and launching off on our hassle filled journey home. As previously described...this was when the shouting started as the people had enough of being tricked into accepting their poor hosting ability...and wanting no more lies. It wasn't good...but, might result in their understanding the tourist psyche and demand a little better in the future. Back in Hanoi...we saw the water puppet show which turned out to be pleasantly amusing and different. Sort of childish, and humourous...the music and puppetry (done by people standing for the full hour in the big tub of water)...it is a good thing to see! We visited for our last night (the 4 of us) as they were off on their 6-day motorbike tour (sounds so cool), then woke to have a perfect buffet of salad and pasta (just what the doctor ordered...as rice, noodles, 'miscellaneous chaffing', etc. is getting tiring...and now here I am...after several hours on the internet, finally caught up with our tales.
To finish with Vietnam...I want to remind you to read 'Catfish and Mandala' by Andrew Pham...but will quote a passage from his book that I find quite true of this country. "I plop down on the bed, pitying the Vietnamese who believe with all their hearts that Vietnam, indeed, is the most gorgeous place on earth. They have no idea that they have gnawed away their nature. There is not much left and they don't even know it. They tell me...all the foreigners go to see this. All the foreigners go to see that. You should go too. Go and behold big trees on big mountain. Go see this monument and this temple. They say it with such conviction that I don't have the heart to tell them, you are lemonade-stand children gouging five bucks for a paper cup of Kool-Aid. Their only fault is the fact that they don't know anything better exists beyond their borders. So they always ask me why foreigners are disgruntled after paying five bucks to look at a forty-foot waterfall or a pile of bricks. No my friends, I wish I could tell them, they are here to gawk at you. "
Having said that...Vietnam has been an interesting place to travel. I'd recommend you try it...but coming here with your eyes open is a good piece of advice. It is VERY easy to travel here...so cheap, so plentiful, so different. The hotels are amazing and good value...but come for the people moreso than for the tours. Dont worry about Pogodas...have a different kind of adventure in Nam...stay on the tourist track...but be sure to get off once in a while. There is so much to experience...and a little imagination with a HUGE dose of tolerance will help your time here be wonderful!
So long.
TW
