Feb 5th – Hue to Hoi An

Feb 5^th – Hue to Hoi An

 Sadly another cold and murky start to the day as we headed south towards Hoi An. We had been promised a trip with great views through the mountains just north of Danang. We’d discussed forgoing the bumpy trip on minor roads and Quy agreed that it didn’t make much sense. So, we pressed on for Danang. Quy told us that Danang is where a lot of US servicemen stayed after their tour of duty and hung out mainly at what was known as China beach. Needless to say that the Vietnamese don’t call it that these days as their relationship with China has deteriorated and refer to it by its local name My Khe. It was once a 20 mile white sandy beach that on a nice day could be quite stunning. Sadly today a lot of large hotels have sprung up and claimed parts of the beach.

We stopped at the museum of Cham sculpture. With their roots dating back as far as 192 AD, Vietnam's indigenous Cham people lived an Indian way of life in both culture and language. The Cham Museum in Danang is dedicated to this period and the Champa existence which began predominantly in the coastal areas of Vietnam. Housing the largest exhibition of Cham sculpture in the world, the museum displays almost 300 terracotta and stone works of art ranging from the 7th to the 15th centuries.

Many of the exhibits are considered masterpieces of their field showcased according to the region in which they were found with a total of ten separate interior exhibition rooms. All of the sculptures on display fall into one of the following sections – icon, pedestal, pediment, or fragment, with the area in which they were found determining where they are exhibited. Some of the exhibits are minus their heads which is because the French took these back to Paris. I fail to see the logic in that as they have a head without a body and they left behind a body without a head.

We continued on for Hoi An and lunch in very pleasant restaurant by the river. From what little we’ve seen of Hoi An during our drive in it looks nice. After lunch we continued to our hotel which is lovely and just on the outskirts of town.

Kim wanted to get a dress and some trousers so we went to a place that Alicia had used last year. We had stopped at a place that Quy used, but that wanted a lot of money. After that we went and explored Hoi An. Hội An is a city on Vietnam’s central coast known for its well-preserved Ancient Town, cut through with canals. The former port city’s melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shophouses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge with its pagoda. Needless to say given how close it is to Tet the whole place was busy. After a while we found a bar and beer to watch the world go by. Around was an Australian who had been travelling with his wife for some time and just loved Vietnam, also there was a Canadian gent who was on his third visit to Hoi An and said that he rarely eat in a restaurant as he was always being invited to join the locals. We ambled back through the old town and came across a bridge from where you could launch paper boats with candles in them. Tamsin bought 3 from a toothless old lady. It was quite poignant for Kim.

We wandered back through the old town enjoying the lanterns towards our hotel and a drink before dinner.