Eric and I have spent the past couple of days in Hue and Hoi An. Both cities are in the central part of Vietnam, but that's about all they share in common.
We left Hanoi on Sunday morning - we had to wake up at 4:30 AM to make our flight to Hue. Needless to say that started us off a little slowly. Our flight was diverted due to weather and when we finally arrived in Hue (about 2 hours after our scheduled arrival time) it was drizzling, a bit cold and dreary. You can probably guess where this is going - I wasn't a big fan of Hue. It was an ugly town, everywhere you looked someone was asking me if I wanted a motorbike ride, and every corner had a Fujifilm shop (like Kodak, this town invested heavily in film processing and has come on hard times since the digital camera revolution.) Our hotel wasn't much better - it was passable, but it had one of those showers without a curtain so when you take a shower the whole bathroom gets soaked. Course you get what you pay for, and in this case we only paid $10 for the night.
On the bright side, the weather cleared up a bit soon after our arrival. It was still a bit overcast, but it stopped raining. We headed over to a small restaurant that the Lonely Planet and some friends in Bangkok recommended. The cafe was called the Stop & Go Cafe and it is run by Mr. Do - he welcomed us warmly and brought over the specialty of the area, banh khoai and nem lui. Banh khoai is a savoury rice pancake filled with, umm... "stuff" - kind of like a crepe ("same same, but different"). Nem lui is grilled pork kebabs that you roll yourself in rice paper with lettuce and cucumber and dip into peanut sauce. Both were good, but like most of the food in Vietnam so far, its all very greasy and often fried.
After lunch Mr. Phuc, one of Mr. Do's partners offered to take us on a motorbike tour of the city and its sites. Our friends in Bangkok had said that the tour was excellent so we agreed. The tour lasted about 5 hours and he took us all over the place. Every time we jumped on the bike to go someplace new, Mr. Phuc would say "Let's go! Rock and ROLL!" - you probably had to be there, but I got a kick out of it! Mr. Phuc was about 50 years old and had lived in Hue his whole life - he told us many stories about life there and especially the war - even secret stories that he wasn't supposed to talk about, always prefaced by "it's all very political." He told us several times about some connection between JFK's assassination and America's entry into the war, but he spoke just quickly enough that I'm not really sure what he was saying. Bottomline: there may be a Vietamese man in Hue, named Mr. Phuc, that knows something about what happened that day in Dallas.
The sites of Hue were pretty interesting - in that they mostly stunk. Nothing was very old, almost everything was post-1800, but it was horribly maintained and most of the temples were falling apart. Especially after Angkor Wat, I was really disappointed. But, riding on the motorbike made up for it - it was a blast and we really got to see the countryside. I have some amazing pictures of endless rice paddies that are the brightest green you've ever seen. All in all it was a fun day, but we quickly booked a bus reservation to leave the next day.
The bus to Hoi An was about 4 hours - it was pretty uncomfortable, the girl next to us threw up, and the driver honked the horn CONSTANTLY. I was trying to figure out if there was some morse code or something where the horn blowing allowed the cars to communicate, but I couldn't come up with anything. It really is incessant - I need to find someone who can explain what is going on before I leave Vietnam.
In any event, we arrived in Hoi An around dusk and instantly are mood was brightened. Hoi An is a small town on a river. It is very quaint and the houses are all wooden and painted a bright yellow with dark brown wood windows. It is one of those places where when you walk around you feel like you are in a different century... except for the fact that most of the houses now have shops and tourist cafes in them. One nice thing is that cars are not allowed in the Old Quarter, so its a bit quieter and its small enough that you can walk most everywhere. The motorbikes are still around, but every once in awhile the street clears, its quiet and you can really appreciate it.
Last night we had a great meal at a restaurant called Cafe des Amis. The owner (and chef) Mr. Kim, made us feel at home and brought out a 5 course meal of his specialties. A Swiss guy we had met in Hue joined us and afterwards we played some pool and had a few beers at a bar that overlooked the river. Today Eric and I walked around the city and explored some of the temples, houses, and assembly halls. From the 2nd to the 10th centuries, Hoi An was the center of Kingdom of Champa and with its location right on the river, it was a bustling seaport. The various traders from all over the world (or at least Asia) built assembly halls so their traders would have a home away from home. Sort of like the Italian Club in Lynn.
Tomorrow, Eric, our new Swiss friend and I are renting motorbikes and traveling to the My Son ruins which are about 30 km away. I honestly am getting a bit "templed out," but I'm very excited about the motorbike ride. I imagine my mom will not be thrilled with this news, but other travellers have told us the route is safe and much better to rent one out here than in the cities. As Mr. Phuc would say, "Rock and ROLL!"
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