 |
| My Son ruins |
Weds 17 January
The one hour flight from Da Lat to Da Nang worked well - and a damn site better than the 16 hour bus option!
Taxied 45 mins from Da Nang to Hoi Ann, checked into smart hostel and then rendezvoused with our two student guides Like and Phong for a city tour which we found on Google. The aim is for them to show you the city and practise their English - and if you’re pleased with the tour you make a donation to the company plus a tip.
Hoi Ann is charming: all two storey yellow houses, with the central streets festooned in lanterns and a pedestrian zone in the evening. It was a large South Eastern trading port 15th- 19th century, hence the Chinese and Japanese architecture, and is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
 |
| Fujian Assmebly Hall |
 |
| Inside the oldest house in Hue |
 |
| Phong, Jess & Like |
 |
| The Japanese Bridge |
The tour was very good - so we persuaded Like & Phong to join us for a simple street-side dinner and made them choose the food and show us how to eat it!
 |
| Hoi An sunset - looking across Thu Bon river to the islet of An Hoi |
We hired two 125cc mopeds from the hostel, and set off to get used to the road rules and explore outside the city.
 |
| Electrocuting fish in the irrigation ditches! |
 |
| War Memorial & cemetery |
Apart from scenic detours alongside paddy fields and war memorials, our intended destination was the ancient ruins of My Son. This is an impressive site about 40km south west of Hoi An – with an array of Hindu temples constructed between 4th & 14th centuries by the Kings of Champa.
 |
| Lizard observes |
We finished our journey at An Bang beach at sunset, and had a quick dip to wash off the dust.
 |
| Jess in sunset surf... |
Friday 19 Jan
We had arranged a car to take us to Da Nang train station, stopping en route at the very touristy Marble Mountains. We took the stairs rather than the lift, and meandered around admiring the quieter temples and views across the cloudy countryside. I was all for heading down, but luckily Jess lead us the right way and we found the main attraction: a staggering cave with shrines.
Da Nẵng train station is undergoing refurbishment, but we managed to pay one of the officials to put our cases in a storeroom so that we could head into the city in search of a lens cap for me and jeans for Jess.
We left promptly at 14.13 and wound our way north along the coastline - with amazing views, but not great photos as too grey and gloomy, and grimy windows! At several points we had a clear view of the front half of the train slowly negotiating the sinuous track hugging the steep hillside, cut through dense green vegetation.
We found Tipi hostel with the help of a taxi - and then got wet walking towards the Citadel in search of dinner in the heavy drizzle, totally misjudging the scale on the map having not realised that the Citadel is 520 hectares!
Sat 20 Jan
We had booked another “free” walking tour - and joined up with our guide Nguyễn plus three other guests at a nearby cafe. Greta from Lithuania, and two boys (English & American) who had bought motorbikes in Hanoi and were driving south, aiming to sell them in Saigon! The tour was OK, but a bit light on the promised history of Hue.
 |
| Bridge over the Pefume River, designed by Gustav Eiffel 1897 |
 |
| Statue commemorating the “Tax protest” in 1908; the first public demonstration against the French, and attended by Ho Chi Minh |
We had a nice lunch with the guide, then opted to join the formal afternoon tour of the Citadel that Greta had booked. This turned out to be a good decision, as the Imperial City is too large and complex just to wander around, and our guide Tu proved to be very knowledgable and entertaining. The city was begun in 1804 by Vietnam’s first self-proclaimed Emperor, and was used up until the early 1900’s. Unfortunately it was badly damaged during the Vietnam War Tet Offensive in 1968, and now only 10 of the 160 building survive – but it is still a fascinating site on an incredible scale.
Tu then took us outside the North Gate and we had delicious bánh mì kẹp from a roadside stall; sweet bbq pork and a fried egg plus lettuce, coriander and chilli in a baguette. We then walked up the street to a speciality café for “Salt Coffee”; only found in Hue. Local coffee with salty ‘milk froth’ – not dissimilar to salted caramel. Delicious!
Sun 21 Jan
The scooters had been such fun in Hoi An that we decided to do a DIY Tombs Tour – and did 85km around Hue seeing the various Emperors’ tombs and Pagodas.
Another fun scooter day. And if you’ve never seen scooters in Vietnam, this clip gives some idea of what it’s like!
Mon 22 Jan
Raining steadily – could this be our first outing since October curtailed by bad weather? We signed up for a tour our to Bach Ma national park – 45 mins drive south from Hue, back towards Da Nang.
Luckily there were only five in the group: us, two sparky French girls and a Vietnamese lady.
As we headed up the tortuous concrete road to the top at 1450m, the cloud closed in and it felt like a typical Munro outing, albeit slightly warmer. A Frenchman named Desmarets decided to survey the hills in 1930, and had soon built a road, and by 1936 there were 60 holiday homes, swimming pool and even a sports club! The Japanese ousted the French in 1945, and then the Viet Cong in the 60’s – with the US taking over this strategic position in the middle of the Vietnam War.
There wasn’t a view from the top as we were in the clouds – but the four hour walk down a tricky path, with river crossings, waterfalls and slippery sections proved to be great fun. The Vietnamese lady somehow managed the walk in city ‘court shoes’ and a woolly cardigan, plus a bicycle helmet perched on top of her sun hat, which the guide wanted us all to wear for safety, but we declined!
 |
| Had to be done... (but bloody cold!) |
Comments
Post a Comment