From hanoi to hoi an
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
25
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
let me tell you about the trip down to hoi an. all throughout vietnam, they have these things called "open air tour buses". what these are are basically a government subsidized buses that foreigners can purchase to get from city to city. we purchased a four stop ticket for $50 each. and what is particularly nice is the overnight sleeper bus option. these buses have three rows of "beds" on them, and you sleep through the trip. let's just say they aren't the most comfortable of beds, but they worked in terms of keeping a budget. the ride down to hoi an was 18 hours total. not easy, but not grueling. it worked out.
the town of hoi an is located just south of the city of Da Nang (vietnam's 4th largest city) and just 20 mins of the famous China Beach (an old surfing spot for american soldiers during the Vietnam Conflict). Hoi An itself, well the old quarter anyway, is a UNESCO certified world heritage site. this area is also where my dad was stationed during the war. i spoke to him over skype and he has fond memories of this place. (i've attached an abnormal amount of photos of the city for my dad so bear with it) ... apparently during the war, the US forces dropped TONS of bombs in this area. miraculously, however, hoi an was not scarred at all. the old town still maintains the resemblance of the old days.
board shorts
from our perspective, it's a sleepy little quaint town with TONS of shopping, the beach just a 15 min bike ride away and a river that runs right through it. see, to the current traveler, hoi an is a dream. why? well, it has over 200 different tailor shops ready to custom make anything you want at your impulsive whims. a lot of people get suits made here with the occasional two or three dress shirts thrown in for free. the aussie guys, the irish bloke and the two dutch boys we met in hanoi all got two suits each for ridiculous cheap. we're talking like $200 for a really nice suit and $40 for cheap ones. they even make shoes! eunice got measured up for a pair of converse canvas shoes.. she picked the fabric, the stitching, the sole, the whole deal. BUT it didn't turn out the way we liked so we ditched it here. also, eunice had a dress and a pair of cropped pants made for under $30 total and i just had to indulge on a pair of custom made board shorts! :). on a side note, there is a restaurant that was recommended to us by a couple we met in china... the place is called the LAUGH CAFE here in hoi an.... up to now, the BEST food we've had thus far. absolutely fantastic. we actually loved it so much and talked about it so much that twenty or so people ended up there throughout the next couple of days on our recommendation. and they all (no joke)went back multiple times. one german/finish couple we met actually went for three consecutive meals! we're actually going to take a cooking class from the cook there.
china beach
it's actually a pretty cool thing here in hoi an. lots of places teach things right off the menu. it starts out fairly early in the morning. you go grocery shopping with them, then go back to the restaurant and cook (and eat of course) the meals that you chose of the menu. fun huh? we're really looking forward to it. also, we're going to visit a local orphanage here in hoi an. we'll share more about these in a couple of days when we're done.let's see, what else did we do. oh yeah, i'm actually writing from china beach at the moment. we came up here from hoi an to spend a couple of nights and a couple of days of "nothingness". we basically lazed around, ate seafood right on the beach and went up for a quick two hour hike to the marble mountains. funny story. since ha long bay, we've been hanging out and running into what we call the "yellow bandidos". what are the "yellow bandidos"? well, there are these five guys we met. two aussies, one irish and two dutch boys. great guys. we all ended up staying at the same place here in hoi an and did dinner and a bar one night. anyways, these fun loving guys (who all met in hanoi) went out, bought matching yellow shirts with a dragon on the front, and rented scooters all around town. to top it off, they markered in nicknames for each other on the back... we had gullum, dirk d, black mamba, etc... hilarious... anyways, eunice and i were having some fried shrimp and noodles on china beach and up rolls three of them. they came to check the place out since we had been talking about it for a couple of days. as soon as they got here, they saw the surf. so, we rented a few boards and surfed for the next couple hours. awesome thing is, there was no one else with boards on the beach. sometimes, eunice and i were the only ones on the beach for as far as we could see... nice times.
anyways, enjoy the pics!
Comments
Pictures
I love all the pictures. Addy sends her kisses to you two! Hope you come back soon!
hi
Did you know I have a dress almost exactly the same as the one you had made! Too bad I spent $80 at BR!!!
cook
i hope you guys learn a lot from the cook how to make yummy food, and cook for us when you guys come back =)