Fun activities and people in Hoi An, Vietnam

The wifi was less than robust at our hotel in Hoi An, so I formatted the pictures but didn't try to upload them and create a post while there. We are currently in Ho Chi Minh City, staying just one night at a hotel near the airport to fly out early tomorrow morning. Excellent wifi here, but this is a business hotel, nothing fancy but it will suffice for the night, and for me to make this post without cursing the upload speed.

When we arrived in Hoi An last Sunday, our first order of business was to walk thru the old city and across the bridge. Boat tours on this river are a huge business. We never took a night boat trip because they are prettier to look at than they are to ride!

Phillip and I booked several activities thru our hotel and had them recommend a tailor for me. On Tuesday, we went to My Son, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

My Son is a complex of Hindu temples which were the religious and political capital of the Champa kingdom. 

The temples were built between the 4th and 14th centuries, so some of them are older than the Angkor temples. 

My Son is the most significant Cham site within Vietnam and one of the most important in SE Asia as well.

Unlike Angkor, where thousands of people lived, My Son was just a temple complex, so only the Cham king and the top religious leaders used this site. My Son was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and, although it was bombed during the Vietnam War, still contains some of the most significant cultural artifacts of Vietnam.

Although Vietnam is a Buddhist country now, the Hindu dances are a part of their culture. Near the My Son site, we watched a dance performance that reflected these Hindu influences. 

Phillip and I returned to Hoi An that day on a boat. More countryside can be seen on the day boat trips.

When we were in Hoi An in 2018, we made friends with Vy and her family. Vy and I became Facebook friends and I contacted her while we were in Hanoi. She and her family now own and operate Denovo Spa, just east of the Old Town area in Hoi An. Phillip and I went to the spa on Monday and Vy invited us to have dinner with them on Tuesday, so after My Son, we did!

Vy and her husband, Tung

Tung's sister, Tracy (Phillip's knee and hand on left)

Wednesday morning, we went on a motorcycle country-side trip. Mr. Quy and his brother-in-law drove the motorcycles, we were passengers. Fine with me as I really did not want to try to drive a motorcycle in Vietnam. 

We went to the community garden where I tried my hand, shoulders actually, at watering the traditional way. Give me a garden hose!

We saw rice fields, fish farms, and drove to the nearby beach. It was a clear day, and we could see Danang (30 km away) in the distance.

This bamboo bridge reached across the water until flooding took it away. Since they built a real bridge nearby, they did not rebuild the bamboo one. Water buffalo on the other side of the water.

Mr. Quy took us to a carpentry village where traditional woodworking was done. Since Covid, the number of people working here is way down, but we did watch a craftsman and his wife inlaying mother of pearl into wood.

Other carpentry activities in this village included boat building and repair and lots of carving. This is an uprooted jackfruit tree that has been carved.

Since our activity on Thursday wasn't until the afternoon, we spent Thursday morning walking around the local market. 

That afternoon, we attended a lantern-making class. 

We both made lanterns....

frames we put together and the silk fabric we selected

which the teachers had us pose with!

I'm not putting in a lot of food pictures because we eat good food every night, but here's one...

And every evening but one (when it rained), we walked the 1.6 km from our hotel to Denovo spa to get a foot massage, pedicure, manicure (me only) and/or just visit with Vy, Tung, Tracy and Ms. Kim (Tracy and Tung's younger sister)

Phillip's flower water presoak before a foot massage

Friday evening, Phillip and I went to the Hoi An Memories Show. It was an hour-long, five act showcase of traditional stories. The venue was on an island with a lighted pedestrian bridge.

Once on the bridge, I noticed it had plexiglass panels so Phillip, not me, could look down on the changing colored lights and the boats under the bridge.

Although no pictures were allowed in the show, which was spectacular with about 400 performers, the venue had several traditional displays and small dance and music shows on the way to and before the main event. 

tunnel of lanterns

On Saturday, we packed, walked around the market again, and visited with our friends before we left. Our hotel staff gave us a complimentary lunch of white rose, a famous pork dumpling specialty of Hoi An. They said it was because we stayed for a week, but probably also because Phillip was always joking and kidding with them and we followed all their recommendations for tours and the tailor. The lunch was delicious.

banh bao vac (white rose) with dipping sauce

And speaking of the tailor, here she is at her shop, Faifoo. I thought I wrote down her name, but I didn't. She made me a beautiful ao dai. Her shop was enroute to the Old Town area and Denovo Spa, so we'd wave to her or stop and chat every day. 

And, a final dinner at Denovo Spa. Phillip got the real chair. I used the red stool between him and Tung. I was too busy eating to take a picture, but dinner was fish soup, salad, pork meatballs, rice, and bread. The family kids around with Vy because she is apparently a notoriously bad cook, so we were happy that Tracy cooked dinner. 

We will miss our Vietnam friends and look forward to a return. This morning, our flight to Ho Chi Minh City was a prelude to the 20 hours of flying we will be doing tomorrow!

Hanoi: lake walks, street performers and paparazzi training class

Phillip and I arrived in Hoi An, Vietnam, yesterday; however, our time in Hanoi needs more description and pictures. On Wednesday and Thursday, the weather was even hotter and more humid than it had been, sweltering during our strolls around Hoan Kiem lake. So, no long walks. Instead, I found some museums that Phillip might be interested in. Museums that are air conditioned and have really nice restrooms. And, for the ones I selected, free to the public and not terribly far away. Our first museum, the Women's Museum, documented the role of women in Vietnamese society and contained many displays of the ethnic attire over the years. 

We went to the Hanoi Police Museum, mainly comprised of uniform and weapons displays. 

Just a few blocks from the Hanoi Police Museum, we came across the Public Safety Museum. This museum also containing uniform and weapons displays, but it had more dioramas and seemed to indicate their focus was more on counterinsurgency and violent crime. 

"Robber Hunting Team" motorcycle

description of the 1978 Robber Hunting Team

Both the police and the public safety groups have fire service within their departments. Seemed like unnecessary redundancy to us, but maybe they have reasons, other than just politics, for it.

Although hot, we did walk about a mile south of Hoan Kiem Lake to another lake surrounded by a park. 

We walked around the lake, noticing that in places the sidewalk was in disrepair, but generally it was still a nice area. And, like we see everywhere, plenty of statues.

Friday was a bit easier on us as we walked around. My Fitbit is getting used! over 70,000 steps a week. BTW, a circuit around Hoan Kiem Lake is 1.1 miles. Two college students approached us to practice their English. While we were talking, a third student ran across the street and bought us ice cream cones as a thank you. Also during our morning lake walk, we watched workers construct the stages for the regular weekend festivities. 

This is that same stage, about ten hours later, now a performance venue.

As the evening darkened, crowds arrived at the nearby night market and to the closed streets around the lake. 

Street performers didn't always need a stage. Sometimes, they just set up in the road. 

Saturday morning and the streets around the lake remain closed to traffic, but early in the day, no crowds.

Continuing around the lake on our first walk, we saw a cluster of photographers snapping away at a beautiful young woman in a traditional ao dai outfit. 

I asked a man sitting nearby if she was famous and he said he did not recognize her. When we saw another gaggle (what do you call a bunch of photographers?) of paparazzi moving to get the best angle to photograph yet another beautiful woman, I asked one of the photographers if this woman was famous. He chuckled and said, no. The women were models and the photographers were in a workshop, perfecting their skills in the real world. Ahhh.... paparazzi training!

Since it was Saturday, schoolkids were in the park. We were approached by Helen, a 10-year old with the loudest voice we encountered. She wanted to practice her English. Her father just beamed as he could tell that we understood everything she said. He took a picture for her and another one with my camera. 

Saturday evening, back in the park after dark. Even more street performers.

At the main stage on the north end of the lake, we watched as a singer named "Lena" performed. She had her name flashed repeatedly on the backdrop (and the name of her sponsorship, Levis) so this one may have actually been a celebrity! I checked later with my good buddy Google, Lena is a vlogger and does Instagram posts, having 178,000 followers.  

Lena, wearing her Levis

As we walked our final lake lap of the trip, more university students stopped us to practice English. At first, it was a group of five, but more from their class showed up so we ended talking with nine of them! When it came time for them to document it with a photo, we had to move closer to a lighted building because of the crowd going around us, so the picture is badly composed. These experiences with the kids and students are one of the primary reasons we love Vietnam. 

Before I close our Hanoi chapter, I need to include a food picture and story. I saw a good review for a restaurant about two blocks from the hotel. In the heat, we did not want to walk far for dinner, so we headed there. We found the restaurant's sign and a woman directed us down an alley and up a set of stairs to a room with four tables, two already occupied with diners, and a small kitchen area. I had the best bun cha of the trip! Phillip ordered sweet and sour chicken and some spring rolls. We did not realize that soup and an appetizer came with our meals. Our little table was full of dishes and our bellies were full of food when we left. All this, including Phillip's cola and my lemonade, for under $10.00. 

Last days in Luang Prabang, first days in Hanoi

Phillip and I are now in Hanoi, Vietnam, having flown here on Sunday afternoon from Luang Prabang, Laos. Before we left Laos, Phillip and I wandered again around Luang Prabang as the town's shaded, well-maintained sidewalks call for strolling. We didn't visit the town's 33 wats, in fact, we didn't go inside any wat as I always wore shorts so we couldn't meet their dress requirement. We walked past several wats, and I took pictures from the sidewalk of the prettiest ones. This one was on the grounds of the Royal Palace museum.

This is part of Wat Sibounheuang, a large Buddhist complex near the Mekong River.

We went to an afternoon bamboo weaving class at the Living Arts Center, affiliated with one of the shops we visited in town. The class fee included the tuk-tuk ride to the Center at the edge of town and back. Since it was solely a weaving class, we had time to make bamboo placemats.

The Center was next to the Mekong River, so another picture of it.

During a lull in the rain that settled in during the last two days that we were in Luang Prabang, we walked to the construction area near our hotel. The workers were almost done with the dragons they were constructing on either side of the steps down to the Nam Khan river. The scales of the dragon are tiles, cemented on, but this worker was carving the spine in the damp cement.

Our flight, late afternoon on Sunday, was again on a propeller plane; I'm getting used to them now! I had arranged for our Hanoi hotel to provide transportation from the airport, as people always complain about being overcharged by airport taxis. Our driver was waiting for us and tried to drive us to our hotel. He got within 350 meters (about 3 blocks), but the van could not navigate thru the closed streets. Every weekend, Friday-Sunday evenings, some streets around Hoan Kiem Lake are closed so that vendors can set up. The driver called our hotel. They sent a bellman to walk us and our luggage to the hotel. Once checked in, Phillip and I went out into the crowd of vendors and people. This is one of the streets that the van driver could not get thru.

Yesterday, our first full day in Hanoi, we did two of our favorite things from our last visit in 2018, walk around Hoan Kiem Lake and visit Note Coffee.

east side of Hoan Kiem Lake

"Have a beautiful time in Hanoi"

After our coffee frappes as Note Coffee, we headed out to visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. This day showed to be the coolest day of our week here ("least hot" is a better description, as we still sweated during the hike) so we walked to the farthest location on my list. Enroute, we passed a display celebrating the Vietnamese winners at those recent SEA Games in Phnom Penh!

At our destination, I thought we had just missed the changing of the guard at the mausoleum, but apparently they were running late and we got to see them from across the grass. 

We did not go into the mausoleum to view Ho Chi Minh's body, again a location where long pants are required. We planned to go into the park's museum, but it was closed for lunch, so I just took a picture of a really interesting tree on the museum's patio.

After wandering thru this park area, we walked about a block east to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

The Citadel was built in the 11th century by the ruling dynasty, Ly Viet. It was constructed on the remains of a 7th century Chinese fortress. The Citadel was the center for regional political power for almost 13 centuries. The structures had been torn down and rebuilt by successive powers, but archeological digs, still ongoing, have unearthed many remnants of the early buildings and their contents.

In addition to the stone buildings, several exhibit halls contained artifacts and pictures of the excavations. 

Because of its cultural significance and the beauty of the grounds, several graduation class pictures were being taken while we were there, kids who appeared to be graduating from kindergarten! They were cute as a bug, with the girls in the traditional ao dai. The funniest part was watching them run out so they could change back into their regular clothes. In the picture, one class is under the tree, having already changed clothes right there. Another class is dashing for their bags of play clothes. 

Just as the naga (multi-headed cobra) was common in Cambodia, the dragon is common here. It graced several staircases of the Citadel.

Phillip bought some sugar cane juice from a vendor on our first night here. I can't stand the stuff as it tastes like sugar water to me. He's had it before, but this drink must have been from a bad batch because he started feeling ill on our walk back from the Citadel. He's fine now, his digestive upset only lasted about twenty-four hours. Today, we had a cooking class scheduled. He went with me, but he did not participate. 

For the first time on this trip, our class/tour had additional participants. Every other class and tour until today ended up being a private one for us because tourism is down so much in the region. Two Englishmen, a couple from Finland and a guy from Scotland were with me as we prepared five traditional dishes. 

Our dishes included egg coffee, fried spring rolls, beef pho, papaya salad, and bun cha (pork balls with rice noodles). Feeling fine this evening, Phillip ate a banh mi (sandwich) for dinner, and we walked around the lake again at dusk.