I had an interesting experience at the airport when I bumped into a Vietnamese guy who was also travelling to Danang (not in the literal sense of bump). I noticed that this guy had a German address on his luggage, and we ended up chatting for a bit in German. Was kinda strange, but kinda cool at the same time. This was the first of many german language encounters in the last place on earth that I expected to have them...
So, landing in Danang we piled into the shuttle and were driven about 30min to our hotel on the beach. This particular area of Viet Nam was where the American soldiers came for R&R before being sent back to the battle front, and is also the area that apparently featured in some series "China Beach". Don't ask me for the details, I am just a tourist here...
This hotel / resort that we stayed in was amazing...but also a little over done in my opinion. Especially seeing how the normal Vietnamese live, living in this kind of opulence makes you feel bad. That being said, the massive bed, seaside location, swimming pool, etc. makes you quickly forget your bad feelings. :) ...at least until you step out the door again...
So in this resort, Bel and I had our own room this time, with Bel's parents in another, and her sister in her own room (jumped up and down like a crazy idiot with glee...or so the reports go).
Outside there was a massive swimming pool that stretched along the beach front (one may ask - why have a pool at the beach??), including swim up bar - but it was a little too cold and windy to think about taking a dip.
That night, being New Year's Eve, we unfortunately had to attend the New Year's Eve Dinner at the hotel for around $50USD a head. This may not sound like much, but $1USD goes a hell of a long way here, so it really was excessive for what it was. Basically dinner was a banquet of fresh seafood and other dishes, deserts, coffee, etc. For the first couple of hours the drinks were on the house, and after that you had to pay for them. This ritualistic fleecing of the guests started around 10pm, which is when most ppl would have liked to start getting sauced in order to see in the New Year - nicely timed.
The Dinner included a live show which showcased some of the local talent (I guess the other resorts got the first pick...), including some traditional Vietnamese dancing, some guy who played a flute / pipe instrument making bird-like noises, and a band imported from the Philippines (local talent must have been thin on the ground).
The next day we got picked up early to go and visit the My Son ruins, which were where religious ceremonies and burials of royals of the Champa Dynasty from 4th to 14th Century - more info on Wikipedia. Bel and I were sitting in the back of the van with Suz, getting merrily gassed to death along the way. I am sure that there was a leak in the exhaust somewhere, but Bel's parents didn't notice it at all. In fact, they fell asleep on the way back...or did they just lose consciousness due to the fumes?!?!
Unfortunately it started raining on the way to My Son, and continued to rain the whole time we were there, which made for one grumpy and probably unbearable me. I spent most of the time trying to take photos from under an umbrella, but still succeeded in getting my lens wet and dirty, which just made matters worse. Because of all that drama, I missed most of the information, but was still impressed by the site - especially the inital walk into the valley, which was all misty and mysterous looking...
 Bel's mum getting rained on at My Son |  Does my phallus make you jealous? |
One of the key pieces of information that I took away was that these guys loved all things phallic...especially the pouring of milk over them during religious ceremonies.
After My Son, the rest of our time in Hoi An was spent exploring this cool old city, which has unfortunately become a little touristy, but luckily still kept some of the old charm. The streets in the old town are really interesting to walk down, taking in the buildings and the people, but most of the shops are now just tourist oriented.
 Locally made silk lamps swinging in the breeze |  A Hoi An street at night with a motorcycle driveby |
One of the main tourist activities in Hoi An is tailoring, and we weren't going to pass up this opportunity. A large amount of our time there was dedicated to the tailoring of suit pants, shirts, and jackets for Bel and I. Even Bel's Dad, who claimed that he didn't want anything, fell prey to the tailoring fever, taking home 2 suits and 11 shirts. But all of that paled into insignificance compared to Suz's purchases... :)
Hoi An also saw us celebrating Bel's birthday, which was a little drama of its own. Bel's parents had bought her some nice Lacqwork pictures in Ho Chih Minh City, which were all nicely packaged up, and which Bel had carried onto the plane on the way to Da Nang. On arrival in Da Nang the lacqwork was loaded into the bus with us, but we apparently forgot to get it out at the other end. Upon noticing this on Bel's birthday-eve there was a lot of searching, stressing, tears, etc. We finally got on to the travel agent and they tracked the lacqwork down, which was then delivered back to us by the driver when he picked us up to take us to the airport for our flight to Hanoi...
 A little local teaching me how to make boats from tree leaves |  Hardly a Holden or Ford V8 ute in sight for these local builders |
Tschüß,
'Brushy
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment