In which we endure more sleeper busses, explore some of Vietnam’s pre-colonial past and Juli has a frock frenzy.
Hue is situated on the Huong or Perfumed river, apparently named for the perfume like aroma given to it by flowers from orchards up river of Hue falling into the river in the Autumn. Well, we were there in the Autumn and detected very little evidence of any such effect. We did, however find a floating restaurant with a rooftop terrace we thought might be nice for dinner, so booked a table for the seven of us (in case the others fancied joining us) for later. There’s a small park by the river that has a band stand in it, which was being setup for some sort of free concert that evening, as luck would have it, just a head of our dinner reservation. Having made a note of the start time, we headed back to the hotel to shower and to tell the others about the concert and dinner reservation
Shortly before the concert was due to start, the four of us met up (the others having plans of their own, it transpired) and wandered back to the park, where the concert had already started. It turned out to be a guitar orchestra (about 15 of them) playing tunes in a range of musical styles that had been arranged for their particular mix of instruments, including cover versions of American rock classics such as Hotel California by the Eagles.
When we arrived at the restaurant after the concert, there was a printed notice welcoming Juli Sims’ party. We thought that was a nice touch and it reminded us of being met at the railway station in Agra by a driver sent from our hotel there to collect us who held up a sign on which was written ‘Jolie Shins’.
In truth, the restaurant wasn’t all that: I’m not sure any of us got exactly what we’d ordered and the food was only okay, but the location – on the ‘Perfumed’ river next to a long, illuminated bridge which changed colour and opposite a row of prominent waterfront buildings with neon signs was great and reminded us a little of the views from the Kowloon Waterfront Promenade in Hong Kong.
Half way to Hoi An, the bus stopped at a very smart service station near Da Nang, a large port city about half way down Vietnam’s South China Sea coast. Totally unlike any service station I’ve ever seen – the closest thing in the UK would be Westmorland services on the M6 – I actually thought we’d stopped at a resort hotel.
We arrived at our hotel (nice room) at about 6.00 pm and went out almost immediately to a tailor just over the road from the hotel recommended to us by the receptionist. In addition to Hoi An’s old town, the main draw to the city seems to be its many tailors and shoe makers who are able to run up any item of clothing in next to no time at very reasonable price.
Juli had come armed with two dresses she owns and particularly likes for them to copy, and quickly set to choosing fabrics and negotiating prices. I was left somewhat bewildered by the place and, despite the sales assistants’ best efforts, chose not to join in the shopping frenzy that was building around me as more and more of our truck mates came into the same tailors on their own missions. At some point during the evening, i think almost everybody on the trip passed through their doors, most of them placing orders for frocks and suits and leaving deposits. I have to confess here to a moment of weakness when both Juli and I ordered matching silk pyjamas for our main cruise. Me: black with silver piping; Juli: silver with black piping. We’re going to look like something out of a Cary Grant movie.
Orders placed and next-day fittings arranged, we left in search of dinner. Amazing how hungry clothes shopping can leave one.
Hoi An old town is a UNESCO listed world heritage site, and the tickets give you admission to some of the special buildings there are to see in it. These include the famous Japanese Bridge that dates from the early 1600s and is now the symbol of Hoi An, a temple, four museums, three old houses and numerous congregation halls, where Chinese expatriate residents socialized and held meetings.
After lunch (with Adam, who had somehow appeared at exactly the right time and place) and a bit more wandering, Corinne went off for her dress and suit fitting and Juli and I took a boat ride. At the helm was an old lady of at least 400. Quite possibly the very same one who disappeared from Hue after making the prediction. She rowed us up and down the river for about 45 minutes and instinctively knew which bits to steer us towards so that Juli could get the photographs she wanted.
Before long, it was time for Juli to go for her fitting, and as luck would have it, on the way there, we spotted Sandy just finishing a late lunch at a small cafe, so she and I went for a beer, while Juli went back to the hotel for a shower before returning to the tailors. When I met up with her later, I was surprised that she wasn’t burdened by bags. However, it transpired that a few alteration were necessary, but that her new frocks (and our PJs) would be ready by 3.00 pm the next day.
Day 120 (continued) and 121 (Hue)
So, one third of the way through our 360 days, having arrived in Hue ahead of the main party, checked into our hotel and booked a tour for the next day, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round the town with Christopher and Gayle. The hotel had given us a map and we went in search of some pagodas shown on it as being near some canals – we like a nice canal – and anything else we could find. We found one of the pagodas, but the other two were being renovated, so we couldn’t see those.Hue is situated on the Huong or Perfumed river, apparently named for the perfume like aroma given to it by flowers from orchards up river of Hue falling into the river in the Autumn. Well, we were there in the Autumn and detected very little evidence of any such effect. We did, however find a floating restaurant with a rooftop terrace we thought might be nice for dinner, so booked a table for the seven of us (in case the others fancied joining us) for later. There’s a small park by the river that has a band stand in it, which was being setup for some sort of free concert that evening, as luck would have it, just a head of our dinner reservation. Having made a note of the start time, we headed back to the hotel to shower and to tell the others about the concert and dinner reservation
Shortly before the concert was due to start, the four of us met up (the others having plans of their own, it transpired) and wandered back to the park, where the concert had already started. It turned out to be a guitar orchestra (about 15 of them) playing tunes in a range of musical styles that had been arranged for their particular mix of instruments, including cover versions of American rock classics such as Hotel California by the Eagles.
When we arrived at the restaurant after the concert, there was a printed notice welcoming Juli Sims’ party. We thought that was a nice touch and it reminded us of being met at the railway station in Agra by a driver sent from our hotel there to collect us who held up a sign on which was written ‘Jolie Shins’.
In truth, the restaurant wasn’t all that: I’m not sure any of us got exactly what we’d ordered and the food was only okay, but the location – on the ‘Perfumed’ river next to a long, illuminated bridge which changed colour and opposite a row of prominent waterfront buildings with neon signs was great and reminded us a little of the views from the Kowloon Waterfront Promenade in Hong Kong.
***
The next morning, we were collected from our hotel and set off on our sightseeing tour. The tour took us to the tombs of three of Vietnam’s emperors from the Nguyen dynasty (the last of Vietnam’s monarchs) spanning about a hundred years: one of the first, majestic and formal; one of the last, a curious mix of oriental and Art Deco design, built in concrete; and one from the middle order, simple but beautifully landscaped. Also in the morning, we were taken to a martial arts show (cheesy and super-hyped up for us tourists) and a village where they make the conical bamboo hats you see everywhere here and incense sticks.
The burning of incense sticks is big in Vietnam. Everybody does it. You see them outside shops in the morning – an offering for a good day’s trade – taxi drivers burn them for a safe and prosperous day and even our tour guide said he burns them to ensure he has a happy group and doesn’t lose anyone. Every shop, house and hotel has it’s own shrine to which prayers are offered and in which incense sticks are burnt.
After an excellent buffet lunch, we were driven to the ancient walled citadel (apparently modelled on the forbidden city in Beijing) know as the Purple City. Our tour guide had only allowed about an hour to walk around what is a very large site, and we were concerned that this wouldn’t be nearly enough. However, when we went in, we soon realised why we wouldn’t need more time: basically, although the impressive city walls are still standing, sadly almost nothing of what was inside them remains, due largely, we were told, to intense fighting and bombing during the Vietnam War. Efforts are underway to restore (rebuild, really) the palace complex and other buildings, a project expected to take four years and for which US$61.4 has been reserved.
Next stop, before a dragon boat ride back to our hotel, was the seven story Thien Mu (celestial lady) Pagoda – Vietnam’s tallest – built in 1601 after and old lady, so the legend goes, foretold of it’s building by a lord who would come and erect a pagoda on a hill to pray for the country’s prosperity. After making her prophecy the lady promptly vanished. Upon hearing this, the then governor of Hue ordered the construction of a temple at the site. Well, you would, wouldn’t you. I recon the old lady’s, husband or son was probably a builder and she was just drumming up trade for the family firm.
Dinner that evening was at a lovely little place round the corner from our hotel, followed by a drink at our hotel: a Hue beer for me, a cocktail called Juliana Blue for guess who.
Day 122 (Hue to Hoi An and clothes shopping)
The bus to Hoi An wasn’t due until after lunch, so while I blogged, Juli popped out for a little last minute shopping. When it came, we were amused to see that it was another of these sleeper busses, like the one we got from Laos but with a bit more leg room, which actually made it possible to stretch our legs out straight if not actually lie flat.Half way to Hoi An, the bus stopped at a very smart service station near Da Nang, a large port city about half way down Vietnam’s South China Sea coast. Totally unlike any service station I’ve ever seen – the closest thing in the UK would be Westmorland services on the M6 – I actually thought we’d stopped at a resort hotel.
We arrived at our hotel (nice room) at about 6.00 pm and went out almost immediately to a tailor just over the road from the hotel recommended to us by the receptionist. In addition to Hoi An’s old town, the main draw to the city seems to be its many tailors and shoe makers who are able to run up any item of clothing in next to no time at very reasonable price.
Juli had come armed with two dresses she owns and particularly likes for them to copy, and quickly set to choosing fabrics and negotiating prices. I was left somewhat bewildered by the place and, despite the sales assistants’ best efforts, chose not to join in the shopping frenzy that was building around me as more and more of our truck mates came into the same tailors on their own missions. At some point during the evening, i think almost everybody on the trip passed through their doors, most of them placing orders for frocks and suits and leaving deposits. I have to confess here to a moment of weakness when both Juli and I ordered matching silk pyjamas for our main cruise. Me: black with silver piping; Juli: silver with black piping. We’re going to look like something out of a Cary Grant movie.
Orders placed and next-day fittings arranged, we left in search of dinner. Amazing how hungry clothes shopping can leave one.
Days 123 & 124 (Hoi An and on to Nha Trang)
This morning we wandered towards Hoi An’s old town in search, initially, of breakfast. (Sometimes this blog reads like an endless quest for food interspersed with the occasional bit of sight-seeing thrown in as a buffer between meals.) While we were enjoying our omelettes, Corinne wandered by. She joined us for a fruit smoothy then asked, since we were going to be walking round the old town at the same time, if she could join us. “Of course,” we said, so the three of us bought entrance tickets and set off together.Hoi An old town is a UNESCO listed world heritage site, and the tickets give you admission to some of the special buildings there are to see in it. These include the famous Japanese Bridge that dates from the early 1600s and is now the symbol of Hoi An, a temple, four museums, three old houses and numerous congregation halls, where Chinese expatriate residents socialized and held meetings.
After lunch (with Adam, who had somehow appeared at exactly the right time and place) and a bit more wandering, Corinne went off for her dress and suit fitting and Juli and I took a boat ride. At the helm was an old lady of at least 400. Quite possibly the very same one who disappeared from Hue after making the prediction. She rowed us up and down the river for about 45 minutes and instinctively knew which bits to steer us towards so that Juli could get the photographs she wanted.
Before long, it was time for Juli to go for her fitting, and as luck would have it, on the way there, we spotted Sandy just finishing a late lunch at a small cafe, so she and I went for a beer, while Juli went back to the hotel for a shower before returning to the tailors. When I met up with her later, I was surprised that she wasn’t burdened by bags. However, it transpired that a few alteration were necessary, but that her new frocks (and our PJs) would be ready by 3.00 pm the next day.
***
When researching Vietnam for this trip, Juli read about a ruined temple complex called My Son (pronounced ‘me song’) that sounded a bit like Angkor Wat in Cambodia: similar dates, similarly ruined, similarly situated in the jungle. Our bus to Nha Trang wasn’t until 5.00 pm, so we’d booked a tour the previous day and persuaded Sandy to come too. Our excellent guide explained that the site is collection of Hindu temples dedicated to Shiva, constructed by the kings of Champa between the 4th and 14th centuries AD for religious ceremonies and as tombs for Champa royalty.
Today the temples are mostly ruined following their abandonment when the Champa people were displaced by the Viet people in the 15th century, and damage sustained during the Vietnam War.
The temples and other buildings were constructed from unfired clay bricks held together by tree resin, which were then fired in situ. This results in the exterior of the tombs fusing together to form a smooth surface with no visible joint lines. Clever.
Back in Hoi An, Juli returned to the tailors to collect her dresses (eight of them) and our PJs and to pay. She took a photograph of the total on their calculator. I think she was a little surprised at the amount.
(Don’t worry, it’s in Vietnamese Dong: about 21,000 to the US Dollar.)
After a sit down and a bite to eat to recover from the shock, we went with our group in taxis to the bus station for the over-night bus to Nha Trang. Another sleeper bus, a third kind, this time with less leg room. Suffice it to say that it was a long and uncomfortable night.
Next time: At the beach in Nha Trang and Mui Ne.
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