A place where 'No' apparently means 'Try Harder'

  Hoi An, Vietnam
Friday, October 31, 2008

08. Remember this river

After 2 days of feeling like wet dogs, the sun showed its happy face in all its glorious strength, and heat! Although glorious, this too had a down side...

In the early sunlight we left Hoi An on a luxury bus as part of a tour (a loose term in Vietnam which we think means an attempt to extort cash for some service. Said service is supplied by someone else who has a different definition of what the service is that excludes ALL extras sold to you!). Although we both hate the ideas of "real" tours, it is about a third of the cost of going it alone! Having done it, it cemented our hatred of being in a herd. Luckily we are in Vietnam, which seems to be Tour package capital - independent travel even more challenging than usual when you are a foreigner!

Our tour was sold to us as a 3 hour trip with a great guide who shows you around!

01. Herding at My Son

Upon arrival, his job appeared to be herd the cattle ( or tourist depending on your definition), recite a lecture (in barely decipherable, Japanese mono-tone, Vietnamese-English - what we could understand was repeated at least four times as we think he got confused) for 15 minutes while you stare at a map, then another 10 minutes outside one temple (apparently the main one at least) before telling you to meet back at the bus in 1 hour, so we can get back to Hoi An an hour earlier than what was sold.

So our tour of My Son was directed with the help of the Lonely Planet! My Son was the most important Hindu religious site for the Cham Emperors from the 4th till the 13th centuries. It comprised various temples all laid out into 10 complexes all ingeniously labelled A, B, C etc... It lay forgotten for centuries till the French discovered it in the late 19th century. What time, the elements, and decay hadn't wiped out, the Americans had a good go at completing during the war (see footnote). Now only 20 temples actually remain in various states of disrepair.
Our hour wandering the ruins didn't let us really feel for the place, and as we learnt more about the destruction of the site, we both become more and more irritated. Luckily it is not the largest area, and by hot-footing it towards the end, were able to see it - we did have to pick our way through the countless other tour groups - and this is the low season!!!

The rest of our time (two days) in Hoi An was spent mostly lounging by the pool. We did wander the streets in

09. Enjoying the swimming Pool

sunshine, getting work shirts made for both of us, and a winter coat for Kirsty (the fitting in the sweaty humid heat was fun. It is stunning and you

11. Kirsty's winter coat

all will just platz when you see it!), and trying as hard as anything to avoid the touts and stall owners in the market who came out in the sunshine, to literally try make hay (or cash anyway)!!! It is a far more beautiful town in the sunshine, and we tried to enjoy the spectacle.

A considerable part of our time was spent trying to cool (and calm) down from the mad rush we found ourselves in, getting away from the constant irritation of street vendor and stall owner harassment. We never knew the word "Hello" could have so many connotations, along with the incomprehension of the words 'No thank you'. We also got really irritated that as a Caucasian there is only one rule - over charge. Unfortunately this small group of commerce driven people give the country a bad flavour. One almost feels compelled to avoid all Vietnamese, thereby missing out on the incredible people out there (we did actually meet a couple of them) who don't want to take you for a ride. It is simply much more of a challenge as they aren't shoving themselves in front of you.

**Footnote**
During the Vietnam War a French archaeologist heard about the American destruction of the My Son so he wrote to Nixon complaining. Nixon, ever the gentleman, ordered that the ruins be left untouched but permitted his soldiers free rein to kill as many Vietnamese as possible in the area. Evidently (according to our guide) some sections of the site are still unsafe due to unexploded mines etc). The whole of Vietnam seems to be damaged by French and American imperialism. Both have gone in, and left a not too positive mark. Surprisingly after nearly 40 years after fighting off the yoke of Western imperialism, the Vietnamese still seem to quote everything in dollars!