Central Vietnam - Hoi An

It hasn't been that long since my last post but I am in my room waiting for the rain to stop so I might as well start the next one.

Yesterday, I had a lazy start.  My fitting at Two Ladies Tailors wasn't until 10am.  They had whipped up a suit, another pair of pants, two blouses, and a dress in less than 24 hours!.  Story of my life, tops too big, bottoms too small.  Next fitting, 6pm that same day!  How do they do it???

I had the day to kill so I decided  to visit An Bang beach.  If I was going to die on this trip, this would be the day because I decided to rent one of the hotel bicycles to do the 10k round trip.  Fortunately, the road to the beach was just at the end of my street so I only had to turn once.  Then through the city (not the centre) and through the rice patties (paddies?) straight onto the beach.

Now I remember why I gave my bike away.  Biking is terrifying and exhausting.  I don't think I have ridden a bike in almost 10 years.  It's true, you never forget.  But what they don't mention is that you may not remember how to steer with a 10 lb pack in your front basket.  Right as I started onto the main drag, I had to swerve to avoid a moto stopped in the street.  I managed to 'lightly' collide with a scooter who then 'gently' bumped into another scooter.  Fortunately, they had just started on a green light so it wasn't exactly a Tour de France collision situation but there were profuse apologies from me.  They took it in stride and just rode away once I straightened up.  After that, I mostly got the hang of it.  So, my little hotel map told me it was 2 k to the beach but google maps now informs me it is 5k each way. 

I made it to the beach without dying.  So, to celebrate, I had a beer and lunch. 

An Bang cat

I had the bike for the whole day but I wanted to get back before rush hour. Plus, I wanted to get off that bike.  My legs and butt were killing me.  I was very happy to make it back to the hotel and ditch the bike.  Never again. 

I was booked into a hotel in Hue for the next day (Sunday, Feb 11) but I hadn't done any research on how to get to Hue.  So much for my 'Tet is coming, plan ahead' talk.  I checked online.  Options to Hue, private car, bus or train.  Apparently, the train goes over a particularly beautiful mountain pass but buses go through a tunnel.  Do I never learn my lesson?  No, I do not!  I need a train ticket, I cried!

So, the nice lady at the front desk, after much back and forth and language confusion, figured out what I was asking.  I would need to take the yellow public bus to Da Nang, get to the train station to get to Hue.  Only problem, not a single ticket available for the next day. 

Hmm.  Horror train amnesia had already set in so I was determined to take the train.  There was ONE seat available for Feb 12.  My hotel in Hue is only $9 a night, too late to cancel but so cheap, I could afford to pay for a night I wasn't there.  So, I booked the seat on the train, and added a night in Hoi An.  I was kind of relieved not to be travelling on my birthday (Feb 11).  Hoi An is a nice place to spend a birthday.

I had to change rooms but I got 'upgraded'.  My new room looks exactly the same but with one bed. And a balcony. 

In my continued effort to eat everything in this city, I headed back to the market to try the fried wontons.  I have learned some new words from the rosetta stone of menus.  Bo - beef.  Ga - chicken.  Bun - noodle.  Chien - fried.  The wonton were ok, they had a tomato sauce on them.  And a coconut smoothie that was outstanding.  I watched her make it and it was mostly just different forms of cream, regular cream, coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk.

Back for my next fitting.  No really ladies, I need some more room in the bummage area.  Maybe it was the coconut shake.  Or maybe it was the rock hard muscles I have developed with the stairs and the walking and the bike.  Alas, no, most likely the former.

I didn't walk around too much after that, I was pretty tired so back to my room and early to bed.

Next fitting 11am. Everything is great. Wrapped and bagged.  I am NEVER going to fit all of this into my luggage.  I also did a bit of research on the journey to Hue which involves a short walk from the bus stop to the train station.  With THREE bags! I am really starting to rethink my disdain of wheelie bags.

I have been over every street in old town so I decided to head to Hoi across the bridge for lunch.  But first I stopped at Ba Le Well for no other reason than I hadn't been down that alley before.  According to Lonely Planet, this well is the source of water for making cao lau.  I'm glad I had already had my cao lau because seeing the 'source' made me worry for my digestive system.

This cement well is the famous Ba Le well. I almost missed it

Water for food comes out of here!

I ended up eating lunch at the Ba Le restaurant nearby.  Disappointing. 

I did make it over the bridge.  I stopped at a dessert place to have a piece of birthday cake.  I ordered white chocolate cake.  Here is what I got.

Birthday tart.  Still good.

And here is some pictures of Hoi An from across the river.  A little history. Hoi An was a major port city from the 15th to the 19th centuries so there is a major blend of cultures and architecture, Chinese, Vietnamese, Fujian, French. But then the river silted up and the port moved to Da Nang and everone kind of forgot about Hoi An so it didn't get developed in the 20th century.  This is one of the few towns that was not bombed during the war so the old buildings as still standing.  It is now UNESCO protected so even though there are a zillion tourists here now, the buildings are protected from being ripped down for hotels. everything is painted in traditional yellow, from butter to yolk.

Just as I was leaving my coffee place, it started to rain.  Not a quick hard rain that would only last 15-30 minutes.  More like a drizzly Victoria rain that was going to last all afternoon so here I am back in my room, waiting.  It is still raining.