Hoi An

Friday, March 6th

We had breakfast by the lily pond at around 8:00am:

Before a rather full day of activities, startig with a visit to a silk factory. A guide showed visitor how silk is made, and while I had silk worms and mulberry leaves in a box when I was a kid, but nothing on this scale:

The guide explained how the cocoons are put into hot water, work inside, at chrysalis stage, and then the silk pulled in much the same way as wool becomes thread.

The visit was quite interesting, but there was always a little pressure to buy - a top, table cloth, suit, intricate, framed copies of photograph that take weeks to produce. It looks like a sweat shop, and it would be if I were working in these conditions, but the girls (always and only) looked relaxed and showed pride in their work.

From here our tour continued on foot, first into the old part of town - no cars allowed, and apparently no bikes during the Tet (New Year) celebration period.

When we arrived at the Japanese bridge from the opposite direction to yesterday, we realised that it formed an entrance to the old part of town - this explained the ticket collector (there's an entry fee to visit this part of town).

The bridge dates from the late 16th century and divides what were then a Chinese town (on the right and a Japanese town (on the left). Apart from crossing the river, it was used as a kind of meeting place between senior members of each community.

The Japanese used to come here for trading purposes, and eventually decided to just move in. In the 17th century the then Shogun banned overseas trade and the Japanese returned home.

The old town contains many old wooden houses, some open to the public (for an entrance fee, of course). This one is quite large, and very popular among tourists. The current generation of the owners still lives upstairs.

Every 5 to 10 years there are major floods in the area and buildings close to the river are affected, including this one. The photographs show the effects of recent floods, and the year marks show the water level of the seven biggest floods since 1964 (at the top).

Then we visited (yet) another Buddhist temple, and our guide (in the white cap) headed off for a quick prayer.

After a coffee stop we passed a smaller Chinese temple with a large queue outside - apparently this was the day in the lunar calendar when fortune tellers gave people the good (or bad) news for the year. Many people being superstitious, everyone wanted to know what lay ahead.

Lunch came early - 11:45am on my clock, but the location was nice, and because we arrived first, we got the best table. We would discover later why we sere on such a tight schedule!

Actually, this lunch was quite nice, and not as large or heavy as some earlier ones. The fresh juice came with ice (!) and Prue's went straight onto the garden. It was too late for me, but fortunately I have survived...

After a short rest at the hotel, we started our planned bike ride into the country. It was a bit of a hair raising cycle along the main streets until we got out of town and onto quieter paths.

First stop, a rather nice temple and monastery.

Then back onto our single speed bikes and out into the rice fields - just as well the terrain was flat and there was no need for emergency braking.

You don't get these kinds of obstacles on a Canberra bike path:

Or see water buffalo working in the fields:

Or German tourists in motorcycle side-cars patting the local wild life:

Nearing the end of our bike ride we came across one of the local Internet "cafes":

Prue had no idea why I was so interested, until I pointed out the row of hard drives above the consoles. Everyone is a small business in Vietnam.

Our next activity was a river cruise followed by a BBQ on an island in the river. All day I had a picture of tour groups seated around a buffet table and huge amounts of food being barbecued. Even after we put the bikes onto the boat and I took this picture, I didn't realise what was to come...note the faux Webber in the foreground, unbeknown to me already burning, and we're on a wooden boat!

All of my questions about where the BBQ was to be, what time it started, how long we'd be there etc were finally answered when moored alone on secluded part of the island - this was out guide's idea of a romantic Vietnamese experience. The reason for being here at 4:00pm was because we had to eat and get back before it got dark (at 6:00pm).

Well, it was kind of nice - the boat driver became the cook (the food having been prepared earlier by a local restaurant), and the guide did some administration. You have to get used to be waited on, and being the only ones eating.

I think our guide had a tear in his eye as he took this picture - mainly because his BBQ idea seemed to have come off for him. The scene looks idyllic, but what you can't see is that cows appear to live here when BBQ aren't taking place.

As usual, there were multiple courses and the boatman did a great job as chef.

Even the "sunset" looked good, although it's still an hour or so away.

As we returned up the river to Hoi An, an unusual cloud formation appeared as the sun went down. We had just enough light to cycle back to our hotel, avoiding being hit by motorbikes as our guide cycled straight through a red light.

But we made it back to the hotel for Happy Hour, a G&T and the sun going down over the lily pond.

It was a very interesting and enjoyable day, and we didn't even need to go out for dinner.