Hoi An, Vietnam - 2May07

My Son (Read as "mi song"), Mini Angkor

Viet Ha was leaving for Hue today. We got a road side breakfast and bid farewell. It was always nice to have meal with local because there wouldn't be language problem and i would get a local rate at few thousand Dong instead of tens of thousand.

The fees to My Son was really an over charged. The impression i got when i got there was, "So they left only these few pieces of ruins." Cham civilization is one of the similar to Angkor. Been to Angkor before had making these few pieces of ruins looked so unsignificant to me in a way. However i like the apsara dance. The body language was beautiful and in Vietnamese standards, the bikini liked kind of dancing dress was really 'impressive'!

The guide told us that, the restoration of the ruins was difficult to carry out as the material that the Cham used to paste the bricks or stones were unknown. But the restoration of the similar Angkor has been carried out for so long. So i would say the problem lies on the money. In Angkor, the French, Japanese, German and American have been doing a lot to help in the restoration and conservation. I think My Son probably is lacking of the international help. However we could see clearly that, the original pieces of the building looked pretty much quite 'new' while the one that pasted with cement by the restoration efforts of Vietnamese government ten years ago looked ugly and old. The ancient construction civilisation around the world is probably one thing that we all would never ever found out or surpassed.

i was surprised when we got a vegetarian meal as lunch during the boat trip. After the boat trips at Mekong, i would say this boat trip was really nothing much.

In the afternoon, i met an Iranian at the beach 5km from the town.We chatted a bit but i wasn't really keen to talk to him. He was kind of complaining how expensive it was in Veitnam and how could it be even more cheaper. I was bored and at the same time, i didn't want a middle east guy to mistaken that i could be his number ten wife!

The dinner was an interesting one. i hang out with 3 girls. One from Finland, one from Italy and one from England. They were also just met some where and since they were on the same route, then they just gang up so that they could get cheaper accommodation and short companionship. They said, if they were in Europe, they won't even bother to talk to each other as it is not their culture to just hook up with someone or to talk to a stranger. I was a bit surprised then. i have never been to Europe, but when i am/was traveling around Asia, it was just kind of easy to talk to people and basically i found no difficulty to just ask "Can i join you?" or "Do you want to sit together?" to any Westerners. Many would say this first. But if i met some Asian people, i know that i would be the one to talk or invite first as Asian are more shy. So may be this is about the time that i explore to another culture soon.



The Champa cultural show at My Son ruins.
Consider how conservative this country is, the traditional custome wore by the dancers are really 'exposing'.
It was a nice show though.



My Son is considered to be Champ's smaller counterpart to the grand cities of Southeast Asia's other Indian-finflenced civilisations: Angkor (Siam Reap, Cambodia), Ayuthaya (Thailand), Bagan(Burma) and Borobudur (Java, Indonesia).



River cruise from My Son to Hoi An town jetty.



Fine sands and palm-lined Cua Dai Beach. Looks better than Nha Trang beach but the sea water is the similar murky.

MONEY MATTER:
1.) Food: 95000 D
2.) Accommodation: 120000 D
3.) Sights: Enrance My Son - 60000D
4.) Transport: Town to the beach , return - 40000 D
5.) Others: Internet 5000D ; 2 ear rings - 25000 D

[Cashed USD 50 traveler's cheque at the commision of USD 2.50 with bank. Rate 1 USD= 16040 Dong]

Hoi An, Vietnam - 1 May 07

Old town Hoi An, a living museum

The bus trip to Hoi An from Nha Trang was an uncomfortable one. The seat was small and i was sitting beside of a huge Veitnamese uncle. So it were squeezed and clamped. Numb at my back side after a couple of hours and it was really scary to see a stranger's face so closed to you when you kind of woke up in the middle of night.

The bus sent us to some kind of hostel at the outskirt (may be 15 min walk from the town). i refused to pay USD 9 for a night, so i walked to the town. It was a pleasant surprised that i met Viet Ha on the street just like this!. She offered to share room with me, so i just took it. The guest house was very nice and safe. Family runs and it was an ancient Chinese mansion kind of design. The only draw back was may be, there were rats. Not a huge issue to me though.

i paid a huge entrance fees of 750000 D for visiting to 5 places or 5 ancient building that kind of things. i swore that, i am not going to pay for any temple or pagoda again! All of these were looking the same to me after countless time of visits to different temples and pagoda for the past few weeks. The whole town itself was a master piece already, so unless you are really good in architectual or you want to contribute to the building conservations, or else, i seriously see no reason to pay this.

When i was having my lunch some where by the river and writing my trip diary, it was funny that an Australian couple mistaken me as the owner. They were there to book some kind of cooking class. We had a nice short chat and they told me that they took a hardseat train from Hanoi to Hue. I would like to take a soft seat at first, but if they could do this, i guess i am capable to bear with any possible uncomfort too.

By evening, Viet Ha and me shopped around the ancient city. It was kind of diffiuclt to imagine that, this city has stilled with the time and stayed as it is for centuries. The town was quite at night and this was one of the place where i felt safer to go out at night too.

We were supposed to have dinner with a German good friend couple. But both of us waited for each other at the different entrance of the restaurant. It was after Viet Ha wondering for 4th times that she managed to find them. This dinner was one of my great dinners for weeks. Good compasionship and good food.

Viet Ha's birthday fall on the next day. The guesthouse owner was so lovely that she gave her a boutique (forgot the spelling) of flowers. The only thing that i got and not from Vietnam was the Cambodian silk krama (scaft). So i gave it to her as her 22th birthday.



The fresh vegetable and meat market.



Except for tailor-made clothing, Hoi An is famous with Chinese lanterns in various shapes and sizes.



One of the old house been converted into shop house.
It is said that, the old town looks exactly the same as centuries ago. Many structure exhibit features of traditinal architecture rarely see today.



Phac Hat Pagoda. Hoi An was the site of the first Chinese settlement in sourthern Vietnam.



The cultural show, admission included in the Hoi An old town entrance ticket.



This picture is bizarre. Do you notice the transparent cyclist? i couldn't remember whether she was there when i took the photo.



MONEY MATTER:
1.) Food - 129000 D
2.) Accommodation - 100000 D
3.) Sight - 95500 D
4.) Others - Burnt CDs: 50000 D

Nha Trang-Hoi An, Vietnam: 30 Apr 07

Hello! Hong

i woke up at 6.30am, except for the hard bed, the night was fine. I got my things packed and left the guest house. The hotel mama was very kind. Hugged and said good bye to me. We both busying bid fare well and forgot about my passport. i found that i did not take my passport when i got to the bus company in the town centre. Then walked back to the guesthouse again.

The bus was at night, so i had a walking tour in the town. i first when to the local small museum and then the market. i felt so funny when the shopkeeper quoted me a T shirt at 90000 D. i got one at 25000 D in Saigon, so i knew this was a few times of inflated price. i then said 20000 D and i got the T shirt at this price then.

Little did i expect that i would meet this kind Vietnamese girl, Hong. She approached me while i was visiting the town church. She came here with her mother to visit her relative and she invited me to join her in walking around the town. So we went to a temple together, the Cham ruins and chilled out at a small island. It was a nice tour and we got to one after another destination on her motorbike. However i felt sorry that she had to pay the inflated foreigner rate because she was with me.

Towards this stage of my trip, i think i like Vietnamese coffee. However it was kind of like really strong. Normally if i asked them to make the coffee less strong, then the aroma was really good then. i bought a small coffee maker at 20000 D. It would be useful to make a cup or two of coffee when i got back home.



Street scene, near to Dam Market.



Across the street, the castle-like building is Nha Trang Cathedral.
The Catholic cemetery not far from the church was disinterred to make room for a new train-station building. The ashes were brought to the catherdral and rebureid in the cavities behind the wall of plaques that line the ramp up the hill.



The 14-m high huge white Buddha of Long Son Pagoda. We took the 152 stone steps to get to the platform.
The top of the hill has great views of Nha Trang and nearby rural areas.



The Cham towers of Po Nagar stand on a granite knoll and on the banks of the Cai River.



One of the Cham towers built between 7th and 12 centuries. This site was used for Hindu worship but today, both Chinese and Vietnamese buddhists come to pary and make offerings.



We took a short boat ride to get to this isle. There is a buddhist temple on this small isle.

MONEY MATTER:
1.) Food: 62000 D
2.) Transport: 30000 D
3.) Others: Shopping T shirt - 20000 D