Tasmania to Tokyo – At Sea – Day 47 can be found here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
Yesterday evening wasn’t quite as restful as we might have hoped – though it was productive.
Following the Cát Tiên Ant Incident, we began to give our upcoming trip to Borneo some serious second thoughts. We barely made it through a single night in bare-bones accommodations – how could we possibly hope to survive three weeks in Borneo?
So we reached out to Adventure Alternative Borneo – our Borneo tour provider – to get their read on our experience in Cát Tiên, and whether we’ll need to endure similar lodgings for longer.
As it so happens, their guide Nick was actually staying at Cát Tiên at the same time as us, albeit over by crocodile lake. We sent over some photos of our own stay and – while I won’t repeat Nick’s comments word-for-word – suffice it to say that he feels the accommodations in Borneo will be much more to our liking.
We also take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for managing to find a spot so remote that it’s where Borneo guides go on their holidays. Nick apparently managed to get three sightings from his Life List, so we’re very glad to hear that his sojourn to Cát Tiên was a success.
But this brings us to the day at hand, and – after a lengthy series of e-mails the previous day – we did not get as much sleep as we’d hoped. That’s going to have a knock-on effect on what promises to be a long and busy day.
And a damp one, too – if the Chan May Cruise Terminal parking lot is anything to go by:
We have roughly two hours on the road before we get to Hoi An. ‘Hoi An On Your Own’ is our longest transfer thus far, and – while bearable – it does offer a memorable lesson as to why one should always check the distance between the cruise terminal and one’s intended destination.
We pass Danang along the way. There’s been a lot of construction since we’ve last visited Vietnam, but it also looks like many of these properties are either partially constructed – or that they have been built but are unoccupied.
During the drive, our guide Van tells us the story of an American soldier named John from Ohio who fell in love with a Vietnamese girl while he was deployed. John returned many years later, and Van acted as his guide. She asked around the area in which the girl had been living, and eventually found her – but she had since married a Communist party official.
Even so, the Vietnamese woman agreed to meet with John. They talked for hours in a coffee shop, but they eventually went their separate ways and John returned to the United States. He would send gifts every year, which Van would deliver – and one year Van discovered that the woman’s husband had died of cancer.
Van told John, and suggested that he return to Vietnam. Van’s Yahoo account was deleted around this time, but she later found out that John and the woman had gotten married and that she had gone to live with him in Ohio. Sweet story.
We make a brief bathroom stop at the marble factory:
I can’t imagine what it would take to get one of these statues delivered back to North America, though apparently one of the passengers asked and – even for a largish statue – it’s was only around US$150 for door-to-door shipping.
We will be returning late on the ‘Hoi An Under the Stars’ bus, so we let our guide and our ship’s escort know well in advance so that no one tries to wait for us. Traffic is bad, and it takes us roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach the outskirts of Hoi An – which wasn’t helped by the 20 minute-long bathroom break.
The bus drops us off at a nearby parking lot, and then we hop aboard some large electric golf carts to head into Old Town. We have to pay an extra US$1 per person for the return trip, which is mildly irritating – not sure why this wasn’t just included as part of our tour. Thankfully I have a few extra dollar bills in my wallet, and we only need to pay half as we will be returning on our own.
Hello, Hoi An!
Let’s hear from the experts – according to UNESCO:
“Hoi An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.
“The town comprises a well-preserved complex of 1,107 timber frame buildings, with brick or wooden walls, which include architectural monuments, commercial and domestic vernacular structures, notably an open market and a ferry quay, and religious buildings such as pagodas and family cult houses. The houses are tiled and the wooden components are carved with traditional motifs. They are arranged side-by-side in tight, unbroken rows along narrow pedestrian streets.
“There is also the fine wooden Japanese bridge, with a pagoda on it, dating from the 18th century. The original street plan, which developed as the town became a port, remains.”
Van noted that Hoi An became popular with backpackers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She claims backpackers would sleep in the streets because there was no accommodations available in Hoi An, but there is now significant tourist infrastructure (and the crowds to go with it).
Van adds that many farmers in the area now earn significantly more from selling photo-ops with water buffalo and farming experience tours than they do from actual farming.
We are given tickets to some of the main sights, though we do not intend to stop by any of them. We previously visited Hoi An during our honeymoon in 2010 and so we instead want to give our kids a small taste of the eight days we spent here, relaxing, reading, eating, and having clothing made for us.
So we start with the clothing – and a return to Yaly Couture:
There are much less expensive options in Hoi An, though prices have gone up everywhere since the days when one could purchase an entire suit for less than $100.
Even a flamingo suit – or should I say, especially a flamingo suit?
My wife and daughter start with having linen skirts made. There’s an immense range of fabric options:
I debate having a blazer made, but there just isn’t time. So I settle for a dress shirt instead.
Our measurements are taken, and we’re asked to keep an eye on WhatsApp for instructions on when to come back for our first fitting.
Off for lunch – we wander the streets of Hoi An:
Until we come to that most Vietnamese of institutions – the brew pub.
7 Bridges is a chain restaurant, but at least it’s a Vietnamese chain
They have a lovely patio:
Though ultimately we elect to dine inside.
I go for a ‘standard’ glass of the Victorious Bastard ale:
And my wife has a tea and berry lemonade:
We order smash burgers, and I’m sure I take a photo of one – but apparently not. Ah, well. Suffice it to say that it was delicious, and a nice way of rewarding the kids for their patience in Cát Tiên.
With lunch behind us, we once more return to wandering the streets of Hoi An – this time in search of a suitable cafe.
Along the way, we find an amusing sign:
And Google Maps leads us into a dark, unmarked alley:
Which in turn becomes the Secret Garden:
We loved spending times in various restaurants and cafes throughout Hoi An – particularly in the lush courtyards out in back.
Our daughter orders a lemon cheesecake:
And our son orders an absolutely massive chocolate brownie:
While I order myself a proper cà phê sữa đá:
And my wife has their hot chocolate:
We have a lovely, relaxing afternoon – or as relaxing as one can have when one is three days behind on one’s blog updates!
I follow my Vietnamese iced coffee with a salted cream coffee:
Also delicious.
Secret Garden has one of the nicest bathrooms I’ve seen in Vietnam, surrounded by gardens. It’s so nice that they have to put a sign up telling people that it’s for customers only.
Plus another sign:
The woodburning makes it look like some sort of motivational quote, but it’s actually a reminder to not throw your cigarette butts down the toilet.
Our sales rep at Yaly texts us to let us know that our clothing is ready for fitting, so it’s time to pay up and be on our way:
The fittings seem to go well – our sales rep nods and makes reassuring noises while she sticks in a bunch of pins. We’ll need to return around 5 pm to pick up the finished items, but that should still give us plenty of time for dinner before our 7:45 pm departure.
Off for another wander:
One of the reasons for our late departure is because Hoi An is lit up with Chinese lanterns once the sun sets, and we wanted the kids to see that for themselves.
The boats are already getting ready for the evening’s cruises:
It’s much busier than it was in 2010, but also much cleaner – and no roving packs of dogs, either.
We pick a new location – the Poison Cafe – for a pre-dinner beverage:
Great location, and a fun atmosphere – though we don’t stick around for too long, because it’s time to pick up our clothes.
One more walk along the river:
And we pick up our now-finished clothing from Yaly before heading to Morning Glory Signature for dinner.
The boat trips have begun in earnest:
But we have our collective hearts set on a third-floor table overlooking the hubbub below. And we luck out!
The crowds are really starting to build:
And so are our appetites. We start with some dumplings:
Interspersed with dashes to the balcony to take in the changing sky and street scene:
We move on to our mains, including a ginger chicken leg with seared sticky rice –
Meanwhile, Iliana from Shore Excursions connects us with Cindy who is on the Hoi An Under the Stars Tour. Cindy informs us that the tour is running 15 minutes behind, but otherwise everything is going as planned. We promise to let her know if anything changes on our end.
Darkness envelops Hoi An, and the lanterns cast a magical glow:
One last glimpse from the balcony before we depart:
Plus a final look at this stunning restaurant:
Then it’s time to be on our way.
The Mardi Gras-esque festival atmosphere is even more pronounced at street level:
And there’s now a line to board the many boats:
We order some ice cream cones for the kids, then cross the lantern bridge:
And bid adieu to Hoi An:
As Hoi An bids adieu to us!
One last glance at the many shops and storefronts:
We begin the trek back to the parking lot – and I make a rookie mistake.
Having used up the last of our small bills, I hadn’t wanted to visit a bank machine solely to pick up the cash needed for an electric golf carts back to the parking lot.
“How hard can it be?” I wondered “It’s only a 15 minute walk…”
Unfortunately, those roads and alleys are major thoroughfares for Hoi An’s scooters and other traffic – so we’re constantly pressed to the side while scooters and bicycles whip by. By the end of that brief walk, we are well and truly sick of scooters. (Particularly my wife – who had one clip her foot.)
We then end up at the bus parking lot. We’re roughly 15 minutes early, but hoped to find the bus on our own – except, of course, that this is like finding a lone Silversea bus in a parking lot full of busses.
My wife thankfully spots a bench where we can hang out to the side of the parking lot, and watch carefully as groups came in. She recognizes a fellow passenger from his backpack and dashes up in time to board the bus back to the ship. It’s bus 19 as opposed to bus 20, but still the same tour – and Cindy is flexible enough to let us board early.
I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so happy to board a coach bus.
Only 1 hour 40 minutes back to the ship, getting us back shortly after 10 pm. Not late by many standards, but more than 2 hours later than our kids usually stay up.
Add in the heat and the walking, and we are very much ready to collapse into bed – and without an alarm, because tomorrow is another sea day.