Da Nang & Hoi An
Cao Rong (the Dragon bridge), Danang & Hoi An. The very new and the very ancient lie next to each other on the coast of Vietnam waiting to be explored.
Our first trip after deciding to move to Hong Kong was to take the few statutory days surrounding National Day in the first week of October. Otherwise known as the Golden Week, National Day celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Anyway this is a time of year where just about everyone has days off and hotels book up, transportation lines fill to bursting and many people around China are looking to be on holidays.
We stuck around in Hong Kong long enough to take in a few celebrations for National Day. There was a fab fireworks display that lasted 20 minutes if it was one and rumour is they they exploded more then 31,000 fireworks in a dazzling display before an estimated 275,000 people on both the Kowloon and island sides of Victoria Harbour.
We flew to Da Nang where we would catch up with friends we hadn't seen in many years. When the plane landed we found a taxi and headed to our hotel, The Paris Deli hotel. It's a nice place, newly built with all the modern amenities. The girls couldn't get over all the functions of the toilet. It did everything except actually wipe your tushie for you, it would give a gentle spray to help clean and even had a seat warmer. Once checked in we went out for dinner and headed to one of the many seafood restaurant, if you are ever in the area look for Hai San Bé Man A, it was just a fantastic experience. These seafood restaurants are quite the affair. As we stepped out of the cab and saw what was in store. The entire front of the restaurant was open, no walls. There where hundreds of plastic chairs set at long tables that ran from the front of the restaurant to the rear and it was already full of seafood loving patrons from all walks of life. There had to be 200 - 300 hundred people here or more.
A waiter waits for orders of live fish.
Now what makes this experience so unique was how you order your meal. We could have sat at our table all night without getting any seafood, you must make your way to the fish tanks; that's correct the fish tanks. At the right rear of the restaurant there were many fish tanks with all sorts of live fish, clams of many varieties, and shellfish; lobsters, crab and shrimp, all swimming around waiting to fulfill their delicious destinies.
We sent Jenn in, our resident seafood and everything Vietnam expert with her trusted sidekick, Amélie to put in our order. They were gone a long time. It turns out you have to go up to the live tanks and tell one of the people working there what you would like. So Jenn and Amélie studied the tanks carefully and not knowing what they were looking at decided it would be best if they simply got someone's attention and pointed at various fish and crustaceans. Feeling an immense sense of accomplishment for having placed what they thought was a complete order, their waiter then rambled something off in Vietnamese. "Oh my god, what did he just say?" It turns out it isn't enough just to point at certain fish you are also asked how you want it prepared. Well... just make sure it shows up on the table cooked and edible is what I think Jenn got across.
Amélie with her shrimp, Shrimpy.
The remnants of a most delicious seafood dinner.
So the seafood arrived and it was about the most fun I have ever had during a seafood dinner, but there was something lacking. We had no greens, no vegetables. I mean after all there weren't any gardens of live vegetables to point at. Enter our resident Vietnam expert. Jenn stopped the nearest waiter and with delicate precision pointed at someone else's table and their plate of morning glory. Moments later we had a similar delicious plate of sautéed greens and a local brew to wash it all down.
The next day was reserved for beach time. We woke up late, almost missed our free breakfast and made our way to the ocean conveniently located across the street. To be quite honest we are lucky we even made it to the beach that day. Traffic is completely nuts in Da Nang or possibly the very definition of organized chaos. To attain our goal we had to see our family safely across six lanes of a divided "highway" with about a gazillion mopeds, scooters, cars and vans bearing down on us without the aide of crosswalks or street lights to usher us to the other side. But as I am writing this you can well imagine that we did indeed make it there and back.
We played in the waves, did a bit of swimming, built sandcastles and generally did not worry about anything except the dying of the sun. Check out the video at the bottom where you can see the fun that was had on beach day.
The following day was spent touring around Hoi An's ancient part of town. We wondered up and down the streets, around corners and in and out of shops stopping only to eat and rehydrate.
Juliette tries on Vietnamese hats.
Amélie with her new hat.
Hoi An's ancient city is super interesting to walk around for an afternoon. One can see many influences from all around Asia, especially in one of the "museum homes" that are still inhabited today by the same families, some for 8 or 9 generations to the Japanese covered bridge.
Today visitors must pay a small fee to visit the ancient city. This fee will give you access to five of the various attractions including any of Hoi An's four museums, The Japanese Bridge and museum homes amongst others.
As we strolled through the streets we visited the Old House of Quan Thang, one of the museum homes. These homes have stood for many generations and exhibit architectural influences from more then one cultural background. Interestingly these homes have withstood yearly floods and as you tour through them you will inevitably see the markers of various year's floods, most of which are well above even my head and this happens every year in November.
We continued strolling eventually coming to the Japanese covered bridge which spans a one of the canals off the river. The bridge built in the 1500s connects what used to be the Japanese district with the Chinese quarters and the rest of Hoi An. At one end statues of a pair of monkeys guard the bridge while on the opposite end it is guarded by statues of a pair of dogs.
All the meanwhile we found time to stroll in and out of the local shops adorned with beautiful lanterns and foliage. We also got a couple of sneak pics of local life.
We returned to Hoi An to partake in a cultural tour of the surrounding countryside. We helped a very nice farmer to plant basil, rode a water buffalo and sailed the mighty Thu Bon river in basket boats.
First farming, those nice folk work super hard, so if you've eaten today be sure to say a thank you to all the farmers that make it happen, because without them I know I would definitely starve, well except for basil, I now know how to plant basil.
Following our brief albeit learning experience in the fields near Hoi An we made our way to meet Bertha. Bertha is a water buffalo who I believe now is retired from her duties in the field as she has gotten in years. Her owner informed us that she has been with his family for the last twenty years and now she mostly gives rides to tourists like ourselves. I have to say not the most comfortable way to travel.
Third on the agenda was a basket boat tour of the Thu Bon river and what fun it was. The most captains each had an uncanny ability to craft the reeds that grew along the river banks into various wearable objects. I'm sure Amélie was in crafting heaven watching, studying and learning their techniques. It was a beautiful float watching Vietnamese life unfold on the banks of a very important and life giving tributary to the South China Sea. The day was capped of with lunch in town.
Our visit to Da Nang and Hoi An ended that night with a visit to Cao Rong to watch the Dragon bridge breathe its fire. Joined by 100 to 150 people we waited with bated breath to witness the awesome power of Cao Rong, then it happened and fire shot from its metal jaw, not once, not twice, not thrice, but 6 times. Needless to say I have a ton of pictures that all look pretty much the same. To our delight when the fire show ended Cao Rong then shot plumes of water from the depths of its giant maw. I would like to say it was an awesome and terrifying sight to behold, but it was mostly kitschy but it was fun.
We returned home to Hong Kong the next morning. Anxiously awaiting our next visit to Vietnam when we planned to return the following December over the Christmas holidays with Jenn's parents when they would come to visit.
As has become my custom I put together a little video of our weekend in Da Nang and Hoi An.
