Life after the beach was going to be tough and we knew that leaving Villa Louise was a hard thing to do. We knew that most places would pale in comparison once we moved on and to be honest the day itself didn’t get off to the best of starts.
Harvey had done his usual, “Right. I know we’re doing something tomorrow, so I’m gong to have a really bad sleep; wake everyone up every hour, on the hour. Then get up at 4:30 and make sure that we all, me included, are really tired by the time that we ever get round to doing whatever it is that we are doing” thing. He has an uncanny knack of doing this, god knows how he knows but he knows – every time.
Anyway, so the day got off to a relatively tiring start and by the time we got to the train station in Hue, he was already overdue a nap. No worries we thought, he’ll sleep on the train, it leaves in half an hour. Or so we thought……..2 long hours in a non air conditioned waiting room later, wrangling a tired and bored toddler in the ever increasing heat, we were boarding our train!
We had this time booked some soft sleeper berths for the 3 hour trip, hoping that we might have the compartment to ourselves and that Harvey could have a sleep. Wrong again. But this time we were pleasantly incorrect. It turned out that we were sharing the compartment with a Vietnamese mother who was traveling all the way from Hanoi to Saigon, sharing her berth with her 4 year old son, Paul. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t really called Paul, but it was the nearest sounding thing that I could come up with to his real name which was probably Ball or Bowl or something…….
Anyway, the first thing this lady did when we got into the compartment was open up her bag of snacks that she had just bought on the platform at Hue and offer her sticky rice to Harvey. Goldmine, thought the wee man and he wasn’t shy about getting stuck in. Harvey and Paul hit it off, well Harvey hit it off with both of them and got so excited about the whole thing that the trip was one constant squeal of delight. Great I thought, this is more like it. An almost relaxing journey. Leaving me free to squeeze my camera out of the window in the toilet and try to get some photos of the passing countryside – as you do.
I actually very nearly lost both my camera and the arm it was attached to as we headed onto a very narrow bridge. Oh well, at least I got the shot!
The train ride from Hue to Da Nang is seemingly known as one of the most scenic in the country and I can confirm that the latter part of it as the train approaches Da Nang from the north is spectacular. The track meanders along a beautiful coastline, revealing quiet, unspoiled little bays as it goes. I would’ve spent the entire journey with my hand stuck out the toilet window if I hadn’t been moved on by a needy woman. The photos that I did manage to get, either through a window or out of a window, barely do it justice.
So what with our lovely train mates and the scenic beauty outside, all in all the journey went unexpectedly well. But for every Ying there has to be a Yang, and this time we knew exactly what that Yang was going to be. Harvey had been up since 4:30 and it was 14:30 by the time we arrived in Da Nang – 10 hours is a long time for an 18 month old and we were expecting the usual shitstorm. Luckily however the drive from Da Nang to Hoi An takes around 45 minutes and he was soon asleep in the back of the car. This proved to be a minor reprieve however and, to cut what is becoming a long story short, the rest of the afternoon and evening were pretty taxing. Who said traveling with a toddler was easy?
On the plus side however, we’d made it to Hoi An.
We had arranged just over a week in Hoi An, and after spending so long in Hanoi and almost wishing that we hadn’t, we were a wee bit apprehensive about this. However as it turned out, we, like everyone else it would seem, wished we’d stayed longer. History, culture, food, weather, beach…… Hoi An seems to have it all.
Protected by it’s Unesco Heritage status granted in 1999, the Ancient Town is the main draw. It’s beautiful mostly pedestrianised streets and lanes winding and criss-crossing along the river side. Lanterns festooned across from shopfront to shopfront, fighting for space with all kinds of climbing plants and flowers. It really is a wonderful place to lose yourself in. At night it really comes to life as the lanterns are all sparked up and the people come out, having been hiding from the intense heat of the day. Food vendors spring up on every square foot of pavement, old ladies sell candles in boxes that get floated down the river, children run and play in the relative cool of the evening and tourists in their hundreds wander the streets and lanes.
I sometimes thought that this was Harvey’s favourite time of day, let off the leash as it were in the cool of the evening to run amok amongst his own kind. If his screams, squeals and cackling laughter were anything to go by, I may be right. The inevitable gather up by a parent when time to go home unleashing the most ear piercing screams you’ve ever heard. What a couple of kill joys we are……
Hoi An it now seems exists for tourism, in fact it owes it very continued existence to the thousands of tourist that flock here each year. So much so that there is an element of the “Byron Bay” factor, where the very charm and quaintness that lured people here in the first place has been replaced by boutique shops and coffee shops and, in Hoi An’s case, armies of selfie stick wielding tourists. It does however manage to retain a lot of it’s charm and allure and at the same time provide world class shopping, food and coffee. However I couldn’t help but think that the very thing that saved Hoi An from the unregulated development that has happened in other hot spots in Vietnam, has now become it’s very Raison D’Etre. And if suddenly this was to be removed what would happen then?
Perhaps because of the tourists Hoi An does food very well. We found the food here to be by far the best that we have come across thus far in Vietnam. Beating Hue and Hanoi hands down. The variety and overall quality was outstanding, as it should be in a town that prides itself on providing a world class experience.
We splashed out and did a half day with The Last Great Hoi An Food Tour. Quite why it’s called that I’m not sure as there seemed to be countless others on offer. Anyway, this one had been recommended to us by some friends and it was worth every cent of it’s $65. It’s run by a larger than life Aussie called Neville. Being Australian big Neville is a natural Orator, with the gift of the gab in spades. He is helped out by a couple of lovely Vietnamese ladies who take the walking part of the tour, Neville preferring nowadays to deal with the sit down tasting room segment – where he is definitely in his element. The food we tasted was excellent, all 40 odd samples of it, and Neville’s explanation of Vietnamese food and culture was very insightful. It was interesting having this all explained to you by someone else to whom it is as alien as it it is to you. Vietnamese food and culture are heavily intertwined it would seem and are both, at times, as incomprehensible as each other. But if you crack it, and find a chink in the the armour and can get in there, I think the rewards might be amazing, well in the culinary sense anyway……
Other than eating and walking, and sleeping in Harvey’s case, we also ventured out to An Bang beach on a couple of occasions. Compared to Phu Tuan this was like Benidorm with sun loungers monopolising the sand. All run by very staunch ladies from the many seafood restaurants along the beach – bargaining is impossible here, they simply tell you to go away. Fair enough I suppose. Anyway that aside, it’s not a bad stretch of beach and it’s great being so close to Hoi An centre as well. I give it 5 years, however, and the resorts that are popping up in their droves all the way back up the coast road to Da Nang will make it to An Bang. And then we’ll be asking Mr Sheraton and Mr Marriot if we can use their beach please.
Ah well, that’s progress I suppose.
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