Hoi An

Travelled down country in a minibus stopping at Danang and China Beach briefly, then at a marble workshop near Marble Mountain - apparently 2 of 5 marble mountains have been completely quarried and now the marble has to be brought in from near Hanoi. A couple of our group succumbed to quite large garden sculptures, which they were having shipped back home. I liked the smaller animals but didn't buy anything in the end. Arrived hot and sticky at Hoi An in time for a late lunch then a quick orientation walk round the old town before having some free time until dinner at a nice restaurant with the group. I had wontons with a kind of hot tomato and onion salsa - Vietnamese fusion I would call it. The food is difficult to order - you never know how plain or fancy it will be, usually it was the former but always very fresh. The next day we went on a fuller tour of the old town with its two storeyed wooden houses, a couple of centuries old, now museums of various kinds - ceramics, folk art to name a couple. Took in some Vietnamese operatic singing there in the afternoon. Braved the market with its very persuasive sellers, so persuasive that it put Dieter completely off and he abandonned me there a couple of times. Once I bought peppercorns and fragrant cinnamon, another time a funny little pair of scissors and a sharp knife in a holder, both of which got me nto trouble on our trip by plane from Danang to Saigon. They were confiscated and I had to go back and send them separately with the checked in luggage. Hoi An was once a thriving port and textile centre and here you can get clothes made up cheaply. The others got more tailored good clothes and suits, I just got a nice summer skirt made for about $20. Of course there were the ubiquitous T-shirts at bargain prices if you could hack the haggling. D bought a couple for Elisabeth - one of Tin Tin in Vietnam, and a Polo shirt. We stayed in a nice hotel with a pool, and French pastries for breakfast which were delicious.
Then it was onwards and upwards for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving in rush hour traffic. Five minutes later we were on our hair-raising cyclo trip through the said rush hour traffic.

Hue

Arrived in Hue after our overnight creaky train ride about 8am and were picked up by minibus and taken to our spacious resort-style hotel near the historic citadel. Had breakfast, which traditionally seems to be fresh fruit - pineapple, papaya, dragon fruit - a white fleshed fruit with black seeds, like a kiwifruit, and a thick bright red skin and quite delicious followed by an omelette, rolls and jam or a tiny segment of cheese, coffee or tea. Vietnam incidentally is the second largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, I read somewhere. We were dying to get into our rooms for a shower and change of clothing, after which it was time for our walking tour of Hue, the old imperial capital, led by our guide, Tan. He studied tourism mangement in Singapore and Hawaii and has worked in the industry for over 15 years, mainly with Intrepid, so he knew his stuff. Past the citadel into town to go to the market where all of a sudden it poured with heavy rain, forcing us to abandon the market (rather pungent) , get a ferry across the river to the other side of the city and take refuge in a cafe for an expresso until the rain stopped then we carried on to a backpackers restaurant, the Mandarin, for a cheap traditional Vietnamese meal - I had Pho Bo, a beef soup with noodles, which was so delicious I went back the next day and had it again. I think it was US$1.50.

A bike tour out to a village where there was an interesting covered wooden bridge "Blue Hope" was the afternoon's activity - about 7km there through narrow country roads through rice paddies and the occasional village. We stopped for photos off and on and for a welcome break. It was of course round 30 degrees and humid. At our destination were very pleasant women selling drinks at their mini- cafes - tables and chairs under the shade of large trees. The trip home was almost as long and into the city traffic where I even overtook a couple of cyclos. No helmets of course, just a little red Vietnamese flag with a yellow star to keep us safe! On an Intrepid journey you don't waste time and it is packed with interesting things to see and do.

Vietnam - Hanoi to Hue

Embarked on another Intrepid Journey this month on the tail end of a typhoon which had I known about would have caused me great anxiety. However apart from torrential rain at times we were not affected. A lot of the countryside was flooded and the rivers were very swollen. We joined our group in Hanoi a very busy bustling noisy city with a lot of motorscooter and bike traffic as well as cyclos and cars, all tooting whenever they overtake. Footpaths, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are very scarce and often disregarded. This made for the intrepid part of the journey for me and I was very wary of crossing the road. In addition it came from the opposite direction to here. We had a day before we met up with other intrepidians so went on a day tour, visiting all the Ho Chi Min sites - saw the mausoleum from the outside - he was away in Russia having his annual restoration - his garden, his retreat, the place where he died. He is definitely regarded as father of the nation. Visited an ancient university in the heart of the city which had been restored. Very nice water gardens, various shrines and a performance of traditional singing and instrumental music. The highlight of the day was the water puppet theatre - about 20 shortish folk tale items performed on water - lots of colourful puppets, dragons, boats all splashing around with accompaniement by tradional singers and Vietnamese musical instrument players.

Met our guide for the next 9 days and the others in the evening - 2 Aussie couples, 2 guys from Belfast, one young woman from London, another from Utrecht , 2 male school leavers from London. The next day was dry and our trip to Halong Bay was on. This was another highlight of the tour - the bay has over 1000 small steep karst islands, covered in scrub as far as I could see, few of them inhabited. We went on a traditionally- styled wooden boat, had delicious seafood meals on board , swam off the boat and stayed overnight before sailing back the next day. There were quite a few of these boats out, all with their small groups of tourists on board like us.

On the way back to Hanoi we visited a ceramics factory where we saw porcelain being painted in the most vibrant colours, including a lot of traditional blue and white with splashes of red. Bought a tiny divided dish with a handle for salt and pepper. That night we set off on the overnight train for Hue, a noisy rocking trip . We were in a 4 berth cabin with another couple. It was interesting seeing the extent of the flooding the next morning from the train. The water buffalo were in their element. Not many people around but always a few working in the fields. We were all pleased to arrive in Hue and transferred to a nice hotel with a beautiful garden restaurant for breakfasting.

German Reunification Day Celebration

We had a pleasant lunch yesterday at the Sorrento, the German Society venue of choice for the Reunification day lunch, speech beforehand with a potted history of the last 17 years. We sat with some new people which was nice. Dieter didnt have much to say to them for a while, but warmed up as the time went by. There was bubbly and a nice buffet lunch with ham on the bone, chicken breasts, salmon and nice salads, and/or veges plus a selection of tarts and fruit salad for dessert. Lovely German chamber music from a string quartet in the background.

We leave for Vietnam on our Intrepid Journey tomorrow night , back Sunday 12 October. Will update blog as I am able, minus photos as I don't know how to put them on to disc yet, just save them in My Pictures.

These pictures are paintings on fabric of Vietnamese people which Dieter bought when he was in Vietnam in the 1960s.