Hoi An, My Son, Hue and Phang Nha – Ke Bang National Park

We moved from our Lavini Boutique Hotel in the rice paddies of Hoi An to “Local Beach Homestay” just a short walk to the beach. The homestay can’t be accessed by cars as it is on one of many narrow alleys in this area – so we walked the last bit there. We’ve learned that "homestays" are a family's way to run a small hotel – usually 2-4 rooms for guests. They serve breakfast but you don’t live with the family. They vary a lot as you would expect.

Signs showing the places in the alley to the right!

I walked along the beach most mornings, and many locals were exercising – swimming, calisthenics, tai chi, soccer, and more. The beach was busier at 6 am than it often was later in the day with the few tourists around. The beaches near where the tourists hang out have much less trash than the beaches that have no hotels or restaurants.

The fishermen were up even earlier. I missed seeing them out on the water but caught them as they dragged their basket boats up the beach to store above high tide for the day.

Hauling in the basket boats and their morning catch

Sunday, we took a tour of My Son Sanctuary, an ancient Cham (Hindu) site dating from the 4^th to 13^th centuries. Unfortunately, it was also a site of massive bombing during the Vietnam War (called the American War here) and many of the original standing temples were destroyed. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 and ruins of about 70 buildings from successive dynasties of Cham kings have been partially restored with contributions from other countries. It feels peaceful nestled in a gorgeous mountain setting.

My Son Sanctuary

We left Hoi An on December 12^th and got a ride (Grab is the Uber of Vietnam) to the Da Nang train station where we stored our bags while we toured the Museum of Cham Sculpture. The Museum is on the Han River near the coast and has fine displays of Cham culture from My Son Sanctuary as well as other Cham sites in the region.

The Museum of Cham Sculpture

An afternoon train took us to Hue where we walked to our very bright Sky Homestay. Our host was amazingly proficient in both English and French and super attentive to her guests while also helping her husband corral two busy young sons!

Sky Homestay in Hue

While Hubby worked, I walked to the Imperial City of Hue which began when the Nguyen Dynasty moved the capitol city from Hanoi to Hue and ruled the country from 1802 to 1945. While the Nguyen were conservative Confucianists, the French also had a large influence during this time, and were the de facto rulers from 1884 until 1945, when the last emperor abdicated his throne. A huge fire in 1847 burned much of the Imperial City, and then the American response to the Tet Offensive in 1968 pretty much finished it off. The site gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 1993 which spurred massive funding to help restore some of the buildings.

Imperial City of Hue

It rained most of the next day but we did a little more sightseeing before catching the afternoon train to Dong Hoi. A driver met us there and delivered us to the Karst Villas in Phong Nha in time for dinner (delicious as always) and a nice room and sleep. We couldn’t see the karst features that night – but the next morning we had this view from our room.

View from Karst Villas in Phong Nah

We borrowed one-speed bikes and headed to town where we joined with two other couples (French and German) to rent a dragon boat to take us to the largest cave in Phong Nha–Ke Bang National Park. The karst formations here are about 400 million years old – and the Park is home to the world’s largest cave – though we didn’t go to that cave. We were lucky that the water level dropped just enough to allow the boats to enter the large Phong Nha Cave opening. We were dropped off to stroll back through the impressive formations. We then climbed a zillion (almost) steps to tour Tien Son cave before returning to our boat.

                   

After an amazing bahn mi at the recommended Thang Nhuhg café, we took advantage of the dry weather and the borrowed bikes and headed to the beautiful Bong Lai Valley just a few kilometers past where we were staying. They are just opening up to tourists now - but you can get coffee and wifi along with beautiful views. You'll need to zoom in on the photo to see the offerings!

Beautiful Bong Lai Valley

The next day it rained (again) so Hubby worked inside and I walked on the paths through the rice paddies. We found a nice café for lunch and got in some birdwatching on the way. It is a pleasant area and the folks in the village we biked through yesterday and walked through today were incredibly cheerful and friendly, waving as we went by.

Last view from our porch - incredibly hard working farmer plowing rice paddies in the rain.

Next up – Hanoi!

Welcome to Vietnam!

We flew to Vietnam at the end of November, just before our 90-day Australian visa expired. We have never been here before and it is popular for many reasons – friendly people, delicious fresh food, good internet connections, safe place to travel, and relatively inexpensive. We don’t know how long we will stay – but it is a great new place for us to explore!

Our plan is to get used to the country and allow Hubby to focus on his work by staying in one town, Hoi An, on the central coast for two weeks. We chose to stay in two places for one-week each. The 10-hour time difference with Arizona makes it so he can connect with his colleagues and students in our early morning and in their late afternoon.

We started close to the UNESCO Heritage old town of Hoi An and stayed in a small hotel on an “island” surrounded by rice paddies. It was a great retreat from the busy-ness of town where there is nonstop motor scooter traffic and lots of people everywhere.

There are narrow cement roads that connect the rice paddies to each other and to town. My favorite thing to do was birdwatch along the rice paddies in the mornings.

You can tell these paths are not meant for cars, though our hotel was close to town so cars could get in and out the shorter road – but not pass each other! Most folks (over 90%) travel by motor scooters though – including the postman, trash pickup, delivery services, etc. Scooters had trailer attachments hauling long loads of wood, pipes and rebar!

The “sidewalks” are obstacles to navigate as they serve as parking lots for cars, bikes and scooters, as well as sites for people to pile garbage, burn garbage when it was dry, weld metal together, cook meals and as sidewalk cafés. Sidewalks are NOT meant for walking so the few people that walked (mostly tourists) end up on the sides of the streets. Because of the traffic flow it is customary to just walk on the same side as all the other traffic. Pretty crazy at first – but I’m getting used to it.

Hoi An has a lantern festival every full moon, and we were lucky to be here for it. The festival dates to the 16th and 17th centuries, when Hoi An was a lively port and trading post. The Chinese and Japanese who settled in Hoi An brought lanterns and hung them in front of their door as a reminder of their homelands, and all the stores today are required to have lanterns. You can buy lanterns everywhere, take a boat ride and float your own lantern on the river, or just enjoy the spectacle of an electricity free night. It is pretty and marvelous!

If you miss the full moon festival, you can still enjoy the lantern-filled city and the boat rides every other day as well! But you will miss the alters that people put out in front of their homes to honor and feed their ancestors. Here is the alter at our hotel. You can see our hotelier working into the night in the background.

We have had a lot of rain though the rainy season should be nearing an end. Darrell caught a cold and was trying to get a lot of work done so he didn’t get out as much as I did – but I walked in rain or sun to see the sights.

One popular tourist activity is to go out in the round basket boats that have a long history in Vietnam. This article has more information on these unique boats. The boatmen and women can make the baskets spin – causing lots of tourist fun, though I haven't tried it myself.

I’ve been impressed by the incredibly industrious Vietnamese people. Honestly, everyone seems busy doing whatever they can do to make a living and still be friendly!

Yesterday, we moved to a beachside homestay for our second week in Hoi An. More adventures to follow!