Fluid plans take us to Hoi An

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  Hoi An, Vietnam
Monday, November 17, 2008

The last couple of days have been quite the whirlwind, and hopefully that won't be a literal description of the next ones.  Before we left Mum made me assure her that we wouldn't bump into any tsunamis, and we ended up dodging a typhoon instead!  But more about that later.  First Ankhor Wat.  We've read so many descriptions about it and we wondered whether it could possibly live up to the hype.  It was very interesting, it was beautiful, and it was amazing to see the incredible amount of work that went into all the wall carvings, but we were slightly underwhelmed.  We hired a driver and a guide who gave us tons of information about the site, and pointed out all kinds of things that we never would have noticed on our own.  Unfortunately, although we tried to time our visit right in terms of coming in the cool season, it was still incredibly hot and humid, which made it a little hard to clamber around as much as we might have done otherwise. We know that plenty of people spend a lot more time visiting the various temples, but we felt that one full day was enough for us

Merchant House, Hoi An

.  People often go for sunrise and sunset, but since the weather was cloudy we didn't have to worry about that! 
We also know people who've spent time in Siem Reap itself, but we really didn't like being there.  It's really enormous (almost 100,000 residents, of whom 3,000 are guides to Ankhor Wat!) and the roads are jam-packed with tuk-tuks, mopeds, cars, people, so there was no way to feel restful.  It is so geared towards tourists that we found ourselves feeling like we weren't in Cambodia at all -- there are as many restaurants serving frappes and pizza as there are serving amok (a spicy fish dish that was delicious.)  We felt as if we were in some kind of international tourist town that could equally well have been Key West in Florida, or Melaque in Mexico (there are even Mexican restaurants there!) 
So we decided to cut out and head to Vietnam instead, to Nha Trang, a seaside resort.  We flew to Ho Chi Minh and then got in line to buy tickets to Nha Trang, but they told us all the flights had been cancelled to that area.  That was when we heard about the typhoon that is headed for south Vietnam, so it seemed like a no-brainer to skip south Vietnam altogether and go directly to Central Vietnam, which is where we are now.  We just got here this evening, so will tell you more about it in our next blog. 
In answer to some questions we've been asked: Language -- because we've been in tourist areas, we've had no problem with finding people who speak English.  Our guide in Siem Reap told us that eveyone there speaks english and I think that's probably true.  Facilities -- we've been impressed by basic things that can sometimes be difficult when you travel (like toilets, which have all been clean and well maintained).  For instance all the places we've stayed have had air conditioning which not only functions, but is very quiet (our current hotel is $15 a night by the way, so it's not only in luxury hotels.)  People: people are incredibly courteous and very friendly.  I wonder if it's the effect of having so many smiling Buddhas around, but there is definitely a calm, gentle air that is different than in America or Europe.  And as you see, the internet is readily available.  And best of all is the food --  tofu and vegetables available everywhere!  So, tomorrow we will start to explore Hoi An.

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Merchant House, Hoi An

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