Before leaving Hanoi we took a day trip to see Halong Bay, a famous Vietnamese national park which is known for its thousands of islands and limestone cliffs jetting up out of the ocean . The weather wasn’t ideal but the rain held off and although I don’t think many of the sightseers agreed with me, if it wasn’t going to be blue bird i think fog capped mountain are a close second best… maybe I have spent too much time in the misty mountain of the left coast. It was a long day, 3 hour drive each way, but the sights and the fresh seafood lunch more than made up for it. We got to go through a few caves on the tour, some on land and others that we floated through in small boats. The cave we walked through was huge and much different than the one I ventured in back in Vang Vieng. Although both massive, this cave was lighted with all different colored lights which accented all the rock formations(stalactites stalagmites) on the walls and ceilings of the cave. You could also see where you were going and that made it significantly less scary!
With our limited time in Vietnam we decided that our best way to travel from north to south was to get an open tour bus ticket. These tickets allow you work your way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City with multiple stops along the way with as much time as you want at each stop. After many glowing recommendations from other travelers we decided our next stop would be Hoi An.
After a long over night bus ride we arrived in Hoi An and that is where we have hung our caps for the last few days. We had high expectations for the place from all the recommendations and it more than lived up to them. The old quarter of town is located along both sides of a river with restaurants, tailors, and markets lining its banks. Especially beautiful at night when all lit up with colored lamps and lanterns.
The main tourist attraction in town is the tailors. There are literally hundreds of shops everywhere that will whip you up tailored suits, shoes, shirts, or anything else cloth related that you can find a picture of and they will have it sewn up within 24 hours. Marilyn and I both have some ball’n new threads to show off when we get home in a few weeks. Although amazing it gets one thinking at the same time. At one of the shops we had some clothing made, we were talking to the girls who ran the store and they were saying that it is standard in Vietnam to work 13 hour days with two days off a month!? It really puts things into perspective of how fortunate we are to have the luxuries and freedoms that we are afforded by living where we do.
On a positive note, we happened across a wonderful restaurant called Streets. The restaurant itself is used as a training facility to teach culinary skills to street kids and the proceeds are used to fund the program. The organization has restaurants in a few locations throughout Vietnam and also a restaurant in New York city. The food was delicious and workers were friendly and helpful. Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested in finding out more about this great organization.
Streets wasn’t the only great food in town. Local specialties included a dish called “White Rose” which was a shrimp rice paper dumpling, and red snapper BBQ’d in a banana leaf. We have been seeing these “whole” grilled fish all trip but we only recently worked up the nerve to try it. We have been missing out but better late than never. After getting passed the sight of it, the fish tasted amazing!
On our first day in town we awoke to pouring rain. After making it to the canal to score some breakfast in a lull from the rain, it started up more than ever and we realized we would have to embrace the rain. We bought some ponchos and put our Island roots to use. What do you do when you have time to kill and there is stormy weather afoot. Yes, that’s right we went bar hopping. With the local fresh draught beer running about 30 cents a glass we had a great day of sipping and shopping while splashing our way around town in our fool proof rain attire.
Mother nature must have approved of our pub crawl because the last few days have been beautiful. Bikes were rented and the 4 km ride to the beach was leisurely sauntered. The beach was lovely, palm trees lined the white sand, and there wasn’t a rock to been seen. Although we have been spoiled with bath water temperature swims during the previous months and realizing it had to be better than the water Andrew went surfing in last week on the north shore, we didn’t waste any time and jumped in and played in the waves. What a treat to be back in the ocean again. Oh yeah and did I mentioned that there were waves. Not very powerful but they did have long boards for rent. I got in a little soul surfing and caught heaps of fun little wave on a 9 foot wave catching machine.
And what might you ask have solidified my love of Hoi An? While out for a bike ride one afternoon, I heard someone call out to us “would you like a trim?” Upon further inspection the shirtless man happened to be a Barbour and had noticed my lovely beard blowing in the breeze and figured I’d like to cool down. It didn’t take much for me to oblige although my response was “take it all off!” For those of you who don’t know, a few of use called every Barbour shop in town before prom trying to find straight razor shaves back in the day. Although glorious and a true bonding experience when you have a perfect stranger hold a razor blade over your face and neck., I don’t think I could work this into my weekly routine. I can assure you that our friend was a true professional and my face was as smooth as the day I was born.
After finishing my face he moved right on the my ears… it hadn’t been discussed as part of the deal but I figured the man knew what he was doing. He popped on his headlamp, grabbed his tools and went deep, and kept showing me any wax he pull out as if to impress me. If anything I was impressed at how little he pulled out… After the ears he went for the comb and we all laughed and decided it wouldn’t be in anyone’s interest for that to happen to my tangled locks.
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