On to Hoi An
We’re on the move pretty much every other day now, so nothing out of the ordinary to be up early for some more travel. The hotel we’re staying at in Hue doesn’t exactly meet Westin standards, but for $40, its quite nice and includes breakfast. This is the high point because it includes all the Wagon Wheels you can eat. For non-Canadians, these are like Moonpies in the US, and were the high point of any brown bag lunch in elementary school. I haven’t seen a Wagon Wheel in twenty years, so its hard to resist one now.
We leave Hue around 8:30 in transportation much more comfortable than the Halong Bay bus. We’re getting a little smarter ever year we come here, and this time, instead of just reserving a car, we also had them show us the actual one we would be riding in. The certainty cost an extra five dollars, but seemed worth it to not have a rusted out old pick up with chickens in the back pull up to the front door.
The drive from Hue to Hoi An takes about four hours (there is a shorter route, but we opt to go over the mountains and along the coast) through scenery far closer to what I had in mind of Vietnam before I got here. There are plenty of rice paddies and the occasional small village that, so far, hasn’t been overrun with new construction. Compared to Hanoi and Hue, its like stepping back in time, and even Lionel Richie signing Hello on the car stereo seems a little avant-garde.
As we near Hoi An, we pass through Da Nang and can see first hand how popular Vietnam is becoming as a tourist destination. Da Nang sits on part of the 20 mile long China Beach and is being heavily developed as a world-class resort. In one continuous strip, we see six mega-hotels going up including a Hyatt, a Crowne Plaza, and a Raffles. The economy has likely slowed things down a bit, but clearly Vietnam ten years from now will be quite a bit different than it is today.
In Hoi An, we found a hotel that is right on the river across from the Old Quarter. If we do decide to check out the beach, it is about 3 km away on a shuttle bus, but with overcast skies and periodic rain, that doesn’t look promising. The Old Town is what we’ve come to see anyway, as anyone who has recommended Hoi An says it is the place to be. In many respects, it is like the street we stayed on in Hue, but goes on for blocks in every direction. Most of the streets are closed to cars and motorbikes, which makes it that much more pleasant to walk around.
As we wander through the market, we are approached by young girl who speaks reasonably good english and asks us to come and see her mother’s clothing shop, where, of course, they have “very good prices”. Of course this is a scam, but my big-hearted traveling companion soon has us engaged in conversation with her and her friend, who surprisingly also has a shop, where they do foot massage. Now, I figured we learned our lesson in about massages in Hanoi, but apparently not, as soon we are weaving through the market stalls, headed for Dao’s place.
The good news is that when we arrive, the place is very open air, so likely not a “special menu” kind of outfit. The bad news, is that it’s actually just a 6′ x 6′ stall in the market where they normally sell silk scarves, but clear some space to put down a small plastic chair and stool for massage customers. Trying to repay the kindness Ang showed me with the smoothie, I offer to pass on this one and just let her treat herself, but she talks me into staying so they shuffle a few more things and squeeze in another chair.
Something about this whole setup rubs one of the nearby vendors the wrong way, as she goes off on a tirade, screaming in Vietnamese while doing laps around our small section of the market. The space in front of our stall quickly fills up with other vendors who have come to see the two, big pasty tourists crammed into this tiny space (I can’t even straighten my leg out) who have caused such a fuss. Without understanding a word of why or how, we find ourselves in the middle of an international incident, but emerging unscathed (and with happier feet), we move on in search of dinner.
In general, the food in Vietnam has been good, but it was definitely one of the things I was looking forward to when we came here, so felt a little let down that it wasn’t great (the food on the boat being the exception). In Hoi An though, we hit the mother lode. Our lunch was so good that, after looking at a few other restaurants, we decide there’s no point risking it, and go back again for dinner. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but I’m guessing this won’t be the last time earlier.
With the early start, it’s been a fairly long day, so we head back to the hotel, where hopefully we’ll get some internet to check email and catch up on a bit of work. We are keeping our fingers crossed that things will clear up tomorrow since our time is short here and still a few things we’d like to see.