Hoi An Hotels
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Danang, Hoi An and craving chocolate!
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An early morning wake up call and we're beginning to feel like zipper people. We haven't stayed more than two nights at any one place so we must zip-unzip-zip-unzip-zip-unzip suitcases for various reasons. Actually just one reason... I over-organized my suitcase. Inside are several smaller 'themed' bags and I can't remember what is what. Today, all those themed bags are gone and just one themed bag remains - the medicine bag. I don't want the Pepto-Bismo reminding me of the penalties for curious behavior or for straying away from normal eating patterns. We've faithfully used the bottled water and avoided raw fruits and vegetables but have become more confident with each healthy day - you do the math.
We have an early morning flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Danang, a coastal town. The 70 degree breeze is a welcome break from the 80-90 temperatures we left behind. The buildings are like charcoal paintings with their whites and yellows hidden behind layers of soot.
We make a brief stop at the Cham Museum to view its' collection of Cham sculpture. Many of these treasures were obtained from other countries and private collections and this museum is of great pride; however, after viewing the sculptures at Angkor, we find our attention drifting out to the South China Sea just across the street.
Our tour bus takes a quick ride over the bridge and soon we're sliding our toes into the sands of China Beach!
China Beach was a former U.S. recreation base during the Vietnam war.
We are so ready for this! No crowds or beep-beep-beeps!
From Lauren: I ventured into the ocean water with my jeans rolled up. The water was surprisingly warm, and beautifully blue-green! Looking into the distance at the cliffs and pagodas in the background was an image I'll never forget. After that I had fun collecting snail shells....see further down for my mom's description of the story!
Beautiful blue sky!
The Marble Mountains off in the distance are named under the five elements Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth).
Vendors seem to be everywhere in this country! This one removes her hat and smiles for me - I have a feeling she was expecting one-dollar as most charge for their photo... She sells soda, apples and rents beach chairs.
Lauren was delighted to find shells to collect. They accumulated in one specific area so we figured it must be a tide thing. Then I looked around and realized they were the trash from nearby vendor's. They have trays filled with what looks like snails. I can't take a photo - not because they charge for a photo but because I just can't photograph the subject matter... The snails are popular with the locals but no takers from our tour group. Lauren decides to keep the shells and throws them into her backpack for some thorough cleaning later.
The visit here is short and our bus tour continues on the road to Hoi An.
The scenery is beautiful and the ocean views are endless but the yearly increase of tourists is rapidly changing the area. Large tracts of beach property are punctuated with signs announcing future hotel and resort construction projects.
The locals were paid good money to leave the concrete-block homes that defined the coastline for generations. Many rebuilt two and three-story concrete block homes across the street. Others were swindled out of their money by their children and now live in poverty. There is new construction everywhere we go.
Our bus crosses this bridge and we successfully beg him to stop. A fish farm is being tended on the left and patches of rice fields are being planted on the right. This is the first of two planting seasons for the area's rice farmers.
We arrive at the Hoi An Trails Resort for two nights. Lauren and I take a break from the tour as we are exhausted and suffering from 'curious behavior' (as mentioned earlier).
Being our very first tour, we've felt too much like tourists. For the next two days we just want to slow down and absorb our surroundings.
The hotel offers free Internet but only has two computers. While we wait our turn, we drop laundry off with Mrs. Von across the street. She walks out and greets us with a huge smile and waves her hand as though we are long lost cousins. She wants to know everything about us and tells us that the competition next door is owned by her sister-in-law whom she does not like, her name is Mrs. Lon! Mrs. Von has a tiny store so we splurge on chocolate cookies and Vietnam beer - the basics you know.
We have a terrible craving for chocolate or dessert or something irresistibly sweet. Cambodia and Vietnam are not big on desserts. What cake they offer is too dry and flavorless - chocolate should NOT be treated this way. Hard to believe the French occupied this country for so long and didn't leave the techniques for it's wonderful desserts! That's so like the French!
We look back at Mrs. Von's laundry and notice this beautiful 2-story home behind the thatched roof awning of her laundry. She is doing well - probably from selling chocolate.
Note:
Laundry: make an inventory list of 2pants, 5underwear, etc. and keep a copy. Stray items were always in our 'clean' bag from the laundry. We didn't seem to be missing anything but the odds were against us.
Hotel: the hotel was beautiful. We did a room change as our room overlooked the Internet cafe/bar and we could hear everyone down there. Another couple had a first floor in the back and were advised to keep doors locked because of the residential street they faced. Hotel has free scheduled shuttles to Hoi An and free bikes if you can get one. I like being in the action so this was too far - even the beach was a 15 minute walk.
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| 9. | Danang, Hoi An and craving chocolate! - Hoi An, Vietnam Jan 13, 2008 (  10 ) |
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