Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
85) Golden Rice Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - The morning literally rolled around - in this case because we were on a train headed for the city of Huế. The beds on the train were pretty hard so I once again didn’t sleep great. However, I did get some winks so while I was moving slow in the morning at least I wasn’t a complete zombie. There were frequent trips through the train made by vendors selling snacks but our group had plans to get brunch as soon as we arrived so I skipped the instant noodle bowls and pre-packaged doughnuts on the food cart. The train rolled into the Huế Central Train Station at 10am and we had a bus lined to pick us up there. We climbed aboard the bus and made the short trip to our hotel. We then went to a nearby restaurant for brunch which by the time we got there was really just lunch. The food thusfar has been consistently both delicious and inexpensive.
86) Golden Rice Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - Nothing offsets a bad night's sleep quite like a Vietnamese iced coffee. Slow drip brew made from dark roast beans served with a thick glob of sweetened condensed milk and then poured over ice. Only a jolt from a set of jumper cables will spark your body into motion faster...
87) Taiyi Lake, Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - Immediately it was obvious that Huế, with a population of 1.2 million, is a lot less frantic than Hanoi with its 8.5 million people. Huế is the second Imperial city of Vietnam since the final Imperial Dynasty - The Nguyen Dynasty - moved the Imperial seat from Hanoi to Huế in 1802. A massive fortress, the Imperial Citadel, was built to be the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty and it contains three separate sets of walls. The outermost area was where public business was handled. Then the next level of walls isolated the Imperial City which is where Imperial business was handled. Finally, the third set of walls delineated the Purple Forbidden City which was the private residence of the Royal Family. The history, culture and architecture was all extremely interesting. For starters, by 1802 this style of fortress was already antiquated thanks to the introduction of heavy cannons from Europe. Additionally, politically the Europeans were already exerting extreme pressure on the Nguyen king and within a couple of generations the King of Vietnam was a puppet of the French colonial government. So this entire structure was as much propaganda as it was a power base. Then you have the changing architecture as successive Nguyen Kings were schooled in France and incorporated European styles into the Chinese inspired layout within the Forbidden City. We spent an hour and a half touring inside the Citadel. We entered by walking over a bridge spanning the outer moat and going into the Quảng Đức gate. In the ponds on either side of this gate were the most voracious koi fish I have ever seen!
88) Điện Thái Hòa (Thái Hòa Palace), Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - From there we went into the outer courtyard via the spectacular Ngọ Môn gate. Next we went into the Imperial City where we visited the Thế Miếu temple. Most of the citadel was leveled during the Tet Offensive so many of the buildings have been rebuilt or restored since 1970. This temple was one of the buildings completely rebuilt but in the same architecture as the original. Inside there are nine shrines where nine of the thirteen Nguyen Emperors are worshipped. This became an excellent place for our guide Minh to give us the overview of contemporary Vietnamese history along with the unique colorful stories of some of the emperors.
89) Thế Tổ Miếu (The To Temple), Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - From there we moved to the Thái Hòa Imperial Hall where we saw the lavishly restored Imperial Throne room.
90) Điện Kiến Trung (Kiến Trung Palace), Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - We then moved into the Purple Forbidden City where we moved to the final Imperial Residence, the Điện Kiến Trung palace, that was built starting in 1921 and was highly influenced by European palace design. It is such a contrast to all the other buildings in the citadel it was fascinating to see. Note: this building was destroyed during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and the restoration was just completed in 2023.
91) Điện Kiến Trung (Kiến Trung Palace), Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - The exterior decoration on the Điện Kiến Trung palace was an interesting combination of Chinese, Vietnamese and European symbols.
92) Nhật Thành Lâu, Hoàng Thành Huế (Hue Imperial City), Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - Next we moved to the Imperial Garden which has a wooden covered walkway that, when viewed from above, is in the space of a swastika (which is a sacred symbol of peace in the Confucian religion.) We then walked through a section of the Imperial City has hasn't been restored and the crumblings buildings and small bits of re-emerging jungle were a nice contrast to all the extravagant palaces elsewhere in the complex. Our final stop was the Imperial Theater which was built in 1824 and that still hosts shows of traditional music. We then exited the Imperial City via the Hiển Nhân Môn gate and then left the citadel back out the Quảng Đức gate. I think everyone in our group enjoyed our tour of the citadel but we were all also feeling the lousy sleep from the train so we dragged ourselves back onto the bus and made a beeline to our hotel.
93) Quán Hạnh Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - Jonna and I decided to skip our free afternoon in Huế and instead rested in our room. At 6:30pm we roused ourselves to meet up with some of the folks in our group to go into town for dinner. We walked around the neighborhood to an area known as the "Western Streets" which is the main tourist area. We ate at a restaurant called Quán Hạnh which is famous for their five course sampler of specialty dishes from Central Vietnam. Sadly, the sampler wasn’t vegetarian friendly so I ordered a couple of single dishes but Jonna ordered the sampler so she got to try the wide array of specialties. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was very relaxed - the entire front of the dining room was open air and the evening temperature was in the mid-70s so perfect weather after a week of chilly and rainy. I wish I knew the names (and had recipes!) for all the dishes that were delivered to our table because it was an amazing meal. These are some kind of steamed rice pancake with shredded shrimp, fried pork cracklings and fried shallots.
94) Quán Hạnh Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - My vegetarian first course were veggie spring rolls and passionfruit juice. Yum!
95) Quán Hạnh Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - My second course was a fried shell made from egg and rice flour, then filled with wild mushrooms, bean sprouts, and peppers. The whole thing was wrapped in fresh lettuce. Each bite was an amazing mix of textures, flavors and temperature!
96) Quán Hạnh Restaurant, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - Once of the courses for the non-vegetarians was a mix of fresh shrimp spring rolls and fried spring rolls which were filled with pork, mushroom, carrot and spices. Also served for the meat eaters, but not pictured, were lemongrass skewers wrapped with spiced pork.
97) Bluehands Ice Cream, Huế, Vietnam, February 20, 2025 - After dinner we took a stroll through the tourist area to see the bars, restaurants, clothing stores and various other shops in this area. There was a thumping music beat coming from the bars and a bustle of people packing the sidewalks. Amidst all the crowds and scooters I spotted a sign that said "Ice Cream" and was drawn to it like the proverbial moth to a flame. It turned out to be a juice/smoothie/yogurt/ice cream shop and on their menu they had a little plastic bucket filled with vanilla ice cream and chopped up tropical fruit. Yes, please! We continued our slow stroll back to the hotel but now I got to enjoy a tasty frozen treat so a perfect end to the day.
98) Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - We may have only been there for two days but I can say we did Huế thoroughly. Today started with once again getting up early in order to take advantage of the usual hotel breakfast. However, unlike the previous places we have had breakfast this buffet was loaded with Vietnamese specialties in addition to a few traditional Western breakfast items. I had rice pancakes, spring rolls, a streamed bun with dragon fruit jam and I wanted to try a streamed tapioca thing wrapped in a banana leaf but when I cut into it there was a whole shrimp inside so I had to pass that over to Jonna. There was also a "juice" called black pea tea that was "interesting". Anyway, it was fun to dive into a buffet where it is easy to try new things. Our main activity for today was a half tour of Hue from the back of a scooter. Twelve older men stood outside our hotel in matching blue vests next to their 125cc scooters. They work for a company called Motorbike Green Journey and they take tourists around to some of the sights that are outside the normal walking route in Hue.
99) Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Thankfully, the traffic in Hue is a lot less frantic than when we were in Hue which meant there was time and attention available to look around while the scooter was zooming around. This allowed me to actually appreciate this scooter we spotted at an intersection that was loaded with live chickens. We left the hotel, crossed the Sông Hương (Perfume River) and rode past the Imperial Citadel.
100) Chùa Thiên Mụ (Thiên Mụ Pagoda), Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - We continued up river to our first stop - Thiên Mụ Temple (Temple of the Celestial Lady). This temple has a large seven layer pagoda in front which is the unofficial symbol of the city of Huế.
101) Chùa Thiên Mụ (Thiên Mụ Pagoda), Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - We walked around the temple which provided our guide Minh an opportunity to talk about Vietnamese Buddhism, how lay people practice this unique blending of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Ancestor Worship and the monastic life of those choosing to become Buddhist monks. The monastery also had a display about Thích Quảng Đức - the monk who self-immolated in 1963 as a protest against Ngo Dinh Diem, the Catholic US-backed President of South Vietnam who was cracking down on Buddhist monks that were protesting against the war. After our exploration of the temple we got back on the scooters and went back across the Perfume River.
102) Hồ Thuỷ Tiên Water Park, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - This time we headed out into the countryside for about 8km on a beautiful winding route past picturesque temples and cemeteries to the Ho Thuy Tien Park. This is an abandoned water park that was built over three years between 2001 and 2004 to the tune $3 million. However, the park had a troubled run with parts of the park never completed and a few periods where it was closed for periods of time. Finally, in 2011 it shut its door for good and despite numerous plans to rebuild it has instead fallen into serious disrepair.
103) Hồ Thuỷ Tiên Water Park, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - It is mainly a pallet for graffiti artists now and has a rather avant-garde feel to it due to dozens of pieces of outdoor sculpture pieces scattered around the grounds. We wandered along the shore of Hồ Thủy Tiên lake to the four story main building that was in the shape of a dragon rearing up on his hind legs. All the walls are covered in graffiti, some of it quite impressive. We were able to climb up the staircase inside until we were in the head of the dragon and could step out onto a balcony in the dragon’s mouth - four stories up and projected out over the lake.
104) Hồ Thuỷ Tiên Water Park, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - There were also some fun photo ops due to some of the interesting sculptural items around the property.
105) Hồ Thuỷ Tiên Water Park, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - It was a neat and unexpected side trip and given that we only saw maybe a dozen other people it was clearly off the beaten tourist route. As a thanks to their showing us around their city we also took photos with our guides. Here is Jonna pretending to take the controls of her guide's scooter.
106) Hồ Thuỷ Tiên Water Park, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - ...and me giving a thumbs up from the pillion seat of my guide's ride. The guides were very good riders and we both enjoyed the scooter tour!
107) Thuy Xuan Incense Making Village, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Back on the scooters we wound through some single lane trails in a village and then emerged into a strip of buildings all selling incense sticks. It turns out that this village specializes in incense and we got to go into a shop to watch how they are made. Each stick is hand rolled using a combination of natural glue, saw dust and spices. Then they are laid out to dry before being bundled up to be sold.
108) Thuy Xuan Incense Making Village, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Naturally, they allowed us to try our hand at rolling a stick - another thing that looks easy but which requires an experienced hand to actually do.
109) Lăng Tự Đức (Mausoleum of Emperor Tu Duc), Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - We got back on the scooters for another short hop to the Tomb of Emperor Tự Đức. Tự Đức was the 4th Nguyen Emperor and the last to rule over a pre-colonial Vietnam. It was during Tự Đức’s reign (1847-1883) that the French conquered Vietnam and turned Tự Đức into a puppet ruler. Nonetheless, he was the longest ruling Nguyen Emperor and the one who had the time to build the most elaborate tomb. The tomb site is a large walled garden with a temple, the tomb, the tomb of Tự Đức’s wife and the tomb of Emperor Kiến Phúc, Tự Đức’s nephew and adopted son. We walked around the grounds visiting most of the sights as well as just enjoying the peaceful area along the man-made lake.
110) Lăng Tự Đức (Mausoleum of Emperor Tu Duc), Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Inside the park is a mausoleam dedicated to Emperor Tu Duc (but it is apparently empty with the body actually having been buried elsewhere to avoid grave robbers.)
111) Chùa Hoà Quang, Motorbike Green Journey Motorbike Tour, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Once we were all finished at the tomb it was back on the scooters to our final stop - a small temple where we were served a vegan lunch like the meals served to the monks living in the monastery. Finally, a meal I could eat without wondering if it had fish sauce in it! With our meal over it was on the scooters one last time for the ride back to the hotel.
112) Sốnglab Digital Art Centre, Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - The motorbike tour was a lot of fun and a unique way to see some of the major sites around the city. Once back at the hotel we had the rest of the say as free time so naturally Jonna and I were right back out the door to keep exploring Huế. Right across from our hotel was a four story mall and on the top floor was the Sốnglab Digital Art Centre. This was a five room art space comprised of different immersive art installations all representing folk stories about the mythic creation of Vietnam. We weren’t blown away by it but we always enjoy being exposed to new art so in that sense it was a win. I think the coolest part was a big room with full room projections of a series streams of spraying dots. Sort of a cross between a computer screen saver and immersion into a vat of fireworks. There was a second "themed" show that took place in the same space, sort of like seeing a different movie in the same theater, but the alternate "show" was 30 minutes later and we didn’t feel like waiting (nor paying for another pair of tickets).
113) Chợ Đông Ba (Dong Ba Market), Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Next we struck out for a long walk back down to the Perfume River, over the Truong Tien Bridge and into the Đông Ba market. This is a two-story warehouse style indoor market that spills out into the surrounding streets. Like the market we visited in Hanoi the inside is a maze of narrow aisles packed from floor to ceiling with everything you can imagine - clothes, housewares, toys, packaged food, fresh fruit & vegetables, raw meat, preserved seafood, beer, etc. There were glass cases filled with blingy gold jewelry. Women scooping out of deep pots filled with shrimp in a spicy red sauce. Ladies practically begging us to come look at the dresses for sale in their booth. Listless old women staring at their phones beside 10 foot high stacks of laundry detergent boxes. Kids threading past our kneecaps to play with plastic action figures and bright pink stuffed animals.
114) Chợ Đông Ba (Dong Ba Market), Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - This was definitely a market for the locals rather than tourists as most of the booths were sellings the kinds of staples needed in daily life like this booth stacked high with dried fish and different kinds of rice. We walked through the whole market and upon exited on the north side we did succumb to one of the vendors - a lady frantically waving at us to look at the cold drinks in her sidewalk mounted refrigerator. The lunch at the temple was great but didn’t include caffeinated beverages so when my eyes caught sight of a chilled soda in her drink cooler I became an easy mark. I probably could have bargained her down on the price but I took it at her stated price and then sat on one of her tiny plastic chairs and drank it right then and there.
115) Chợ Đông Ba (Dong Ba Market), Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - We made a second pass through the market along the east side, which turned out to be where most of the jewelry sellers were located, hoping to spot a public toilet but by then the incessant hawkers trying to get us to look at their wares was getting annoying so we gave up on the bathroom and left. We’d passed some riverside cafes on the opposite side of the bridge so we headed back across the river. We found a bathroom at the first cafe we visited and decided to rest there for a bit. I bought an ice cream bar and sat down on the patio but when Jonna came back from the counter she had discovered they didn’t have any sugar-free drinks. Right next door was a Starbucks in a fancy lotus shaped building floating on the river. It was downright embarrassing to go into a Starbucks while there are so many little cafes all over the place here but we know Starbucks sells hot tea with no sugar added so it was a quick and safe choice. Besides we blended right in because nearly everyone inside was also a white, western tourist! With Jonna and I both (separately) caffeinated we were back on our feet and pounding the pavement.
116) Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Just upriver was the edge of the "Western Streets" tourist area and we were on a quest to pick up more postcards. Postcards are getting harder and harder to find but we’d spotted a shop when walking back to the hotel from dinner last night so we needed to find it. On the way we heard some drums banging so we followed the sound to a fancy hotel where a wedding was taking place. On the street in front there was a troupe of performers playing instruments (drums, cymbals and gongs) while four dancers in two lion costumes posed for the guests as they entered. A neat little cultural moment to get to experience.
117) Huế, Vietnam, February 21, 2025 - Finding the shop with the postcards took awhile but eventually we did and were able to buy some cards. As a bonus the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner was directly across the street. This turned out to be our most expensive food so far - an extravagant $20 for both of us to eat dinner. And what was this decadent meal? Caviar? Foie-gras? Peking duck? Nope, American hamburgers. I guess they know they can fleece the tourists who will pay anything for a familiar flavor. We each had a cheese burger (mine with an unusual vegetarian fried mash potato patty). Jonna had onion rings. I had fries and some fresh squeezed pineapple juice. That modest meal was two or three times the cost of nearly every other meal we have had this trip. Oh well, we were both tired of rice or noodles with pork or veggies so it was nice to eat something different. From dinner we headed back to the hotel. Along the way, we had a friendly interaction with someone in a panda suit who was hawking for a shop. Jonna’s phone showed we walked 8.6 miles this day. Throw in the three hour scooter tour and we definitely covered some ground today. Tomorrow we leave Huế and continue south along the coast to Hội An.
118) Đèo Hải Vân (Hải Vân Pass), Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - This morning we bid farewell to Huế and spent half a day driving to Hội An. However, the day started with another excellent breakfast at our hotel. Just like yesterday the buffet was loaded with Vietnamese specialties so I could again try some different things. I had a French baguette filled with an egg salad like mixture, a fried veggie spring roll, another streamed bun but this time with pineapple jam, fresh dragon fruit, some passion fruit juice and a Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk. After breakfast we checked out and immediately boarded our bus. It was a busy Saturday morning so Huế was bustling. We passed two different street markets and at least three weddings as we drove out of town. The drive was pretty boring for the first hour - basically just a busy road with businesses lining both sides. However, we eventually reached Đầm Lăng Cô (Lăng Cô Lagoon) which is a large brackish bay that is filled with oysters. The result is that it is famous for its pearls. We made a brief stop at a combination pearls market and coffee shop so that we could have a bathroom and caffeine break. We declined buying any pearls but we did take advantage of the coffee and tea. Then it was back on the bus for the next big change. The climb up and over Hải Vân Quan (Hải Vân Pass). The pass is only 500 meters above sea level but it starts *at* sea level - really at the sea side - and it reaches 500m after about 12 km so the incline for much of the climb is around 8% and there are a few switchbacks that are pretty tight when a semi is coming the other way.
119) Đèo Hải Vân (Hải Vân Pass), Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - This is in a jungle so the views weren’t the clearest but we did stop just at a turnout before the top so we could get a decent panoramic view. The very top was up in a cloud so we didn’t bother to stop there. It was another 12 or so kilometers back down on the south side and then we were into Danang - famous for having been the major US Marine base during the Vietnam/American War and also for My Khe beach (aka China Beach) where the American soldiers would go to surf. We drove along the beach and then along the airstrip built on the old base.
120) Cầu Bán Nguyệt (Semicircle Bridge), Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - On the south side of town the Cầu Rồng, a large bridge in the shape of a dragon (complete with a head that periodically spouts both fire and water) was built over the Hàn River. For another bathroom break we stopped at a public park on the west bank where we had a panoramic view of the Dragon Bridge - the modern symbol of Danang. We were only stopped for a few minutes before we were back in the bus and on our way to our final destination for the day - Hội An.
121) Bánh Mì Sum, Hội An, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - Our hotel is on the edge of town so we made another quick turnaround of just checking into our room and bundling up our dirty clothes to drop off at the front desk. Then we jumped on a "buggy", a four row electric shuttle bus, for the 2km trip into the old town center of Hội An. By now it was 2pm and we were all hungry so our first order of sightseeing was to find lunch. Our guide Minh recommended a Banh Mi shop and we all agreed. It was delicious. I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture but did grab a few photos of the "kitchen" as we left.
122) Ba Mu Temple Gate, Hội An, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - Minh then took us on a one hour guided tour of "Old Town" which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This area has been populated since the second century but it was built into a major trading port in the 15th century so most of what is seen in Old Town is between 200 and 500 years old. Another thing that makes this area unique within Vietnam are the different cultural influences - the Champa Empire (the Chams being primarily ethnically Malay and following Hinduism) was dominant for about 300 years. Then the Viet people took over the region around the 1400s changing the dominant religion to Buddhism and the dominant culture to Imperial Vietnamese (which was basically Chinese). By the 1500s the Portuguese arrived and started to trade and introduce Catholicism. In the 1600s both Chinese and Japanese traders arrived in large enough numbers that they were given sections of land in which to build their own trading towns. In the late 1700s Hội An was the site of a major battle between the Nguyen and Trinh armies which Nguyen Emperor Gia Long won because he asked some relative newcomers in the area - the French for help. So this battle for Hội An was the catalyst for what became the subjugation and colonization of all of Vietnam by the French. Ultimately, the Thu Bồn River silted up destroying the deep water port and turning Hội An into a literal backwater. As the city dwindled it was preserved and wasn’t restored and revitalized until the 1990s. I can assure you, after walking around it for a few hours in the evening, it is not a backwater any longer. Holy cow was this city popular as a tourist site. Anyway, back to our walking tour. Our first stop was outside the walls of a temple. Or so it appeared. The front wall of the temple had been relocated when the rest of the temple was destroyed and what was actually behind the beautifully carved old wall is a modern secondary school.
123) Chùa Cầu (Japanese Covered-Bridge), Hội An, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - Next, we walked to the famous Japanese Bridge. This is a stone and wood covered bridge with a Buddhist temple built in the middle. This bridge originally joined the 17th century Japanese and Chinese trading towns but when Japan decided to isolate itself in the late 1600s the Chinese expanded to take over the buildings built by the Japanese. The bridge is ground zero for the tourist area and crossing it means diving into a packed mass of people. Looking in the temple on the bridge is like elbowing your way into the mosh pit at a punk show!
124) Hội Quán Ngũ Bang (Chinese Assembly Hall of Hoi An), Hội An, Vietnam,
February 22, 2025 - We then visited one of the old homes from this period.
Inside the architecture and decorations showed influence from Japanese,
Chinese and Vietnamese cultures all intermixed. The river here frequently
floods so one unique aspect of these old houses is that all the room
decorations can be removed and hoisted up to the second floor for
protection during a flood. All the structural components are made from
ironwood and teak which is treated to deal with periodic soakings. As
the Chinese monopolized Old Town in the 1700s they build Assembly Halls
which were combination temple and cultural center. A few of these still
exist today so our next stop was the Fukian Assembly Hall to see one of
these.
125) Hội Quán Ngũ Bang (Chinese Assembly Hall of Hoi An), Hội An, Vietnam,
February 22, 2025 - One of the most interesting things in the Assembly
Hall were these huge incense coils which will burn for days. This was the
end of our guided tour so Minh cut us all loose to explore Hội An on our
own.
126) Nhà Cổ Tấn Ký (Old House of Tan Ky), Hội An, Vietnam, February 22,
2025 - What has turned Hội An into a major tourist destination is a full
moon festival. Every full moon people descend on the River with lighted
silk lanterns. This changed from a monthly festival into a nightly tourist
attraction and so now the entire riverfront is packed with the things.
Silk lanterns on boats which will take tourists on a cruise down the river.
Silk lanterns in the restaurants which glow while tourists buy beer or
dinner. Silk lanterns for sale in every souvenir shop and sidewalk cart.
Stores selling "make your own silk lanterns" experiences. Pedi-cabs with
a silk lantern hanging over the passenger seat while a rider pumps away
on the pedals. Get the picture? One other thing Hội An is particularly
famous for is tailors. The streets are lined with custom tailor shops
filled with mannequins draped in silk dresses and linen slacks and wool
suits. I would rather have a root canal than shop for clothes but Jonna
wanted to get an outfit made. So we decided to split up. While she looked
at clothes I took off on my own to explore more of the city. My first
stop was to circle back to the House of Tan Ky to get a photo. This is
the house mentioned above that we visited to see how the Chinese traders
lived during Hội An's heyday.
127) Bảo Tàng Văn Hoá Dân Gian Hội An (Museum of Folk Culture), Hội An,
Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - Minh had a ticket that provided entrance into
a collection of museums so I grabbed on of those. For the next couple of
hours I was busy, busy! I walked for miles wandering all the streets of
Old Town (and even venturing outside!) I found and explored the combination
covered/street market with all kinds of interesting things for sale. I also
stopped at all the street carts to checkout all the fascinating foods that
were being hawked: octopus tentacles, cups of chicken rice, shaved ice mixed
with tropical fruit, rice pancake "tacos", tapioca logs with some kind of
meat filling, and folded banana leaves with a steamed mystery hidden
inside. I also checked out a few of the museums. First up was The
Folklore Museum which detailed many different aspects of rural life
including rice farming, fishing, carpentry, weaving, etc.
128) Bảo Tàng Văn Hoá Dân Gian Hội An (Museum of Folk Culture), Hội An,
Vietnam, February 22, 2025 - All the museums (and the surrounding shops)
are built in the same old waterfront homes like the one we'd visited
earlier, so they all contain really beautiful little courtyards with
fountains, gardens and shaded porches. Architecturally, it was just
as interesting to see the buildings as the things on display inside
the museums.
129) Bảo Tàng Gốm sứ Mậu Dịch (Museum of Trade Ceramics), Hội An, Vietnam,
February 22, 2025 - Second was a visit to The Museum of Trade Ceramics
which is really an archeological showing pottery found in digs around
the area. These show the progression of ceremaics over the past couple of
thousand years, as well as the cultural influences of the various groups
that have lived in this area during that time. The final two musuem that
I visited (but didn't get any decent photos in) were The Museum of Sa Huỳnh
Culture and the Japanese Culture House. Both of these focused on specific
groups who lived in this area. I tried to also visit The Old House of Phung
Hung but unfortunately the museum ticket was only valid for five museums
(one of the sites we’d visited on the guided tour being the fifth for me).
Still, I felt like I'd used my time in Old Town Hội An well!
130) Chợ Quê Riverside Restaurant, Hội An, Vietnam, February 22, 2025 -
With my two hours up, the crowds getting oppressively dens and with my feet
killing me!, I headed to the rendezvous point. Jonna came back happy with
her clothes shopping so we both did what made us happy. Minh brought Jonna
and I, along with another couple from our tour group, to a riverside
restaurant for dinner. It was a little pricey by Vietnamese standards but at
$7 per meal it was about as cheap a waterside dinner as you can get in any
touristy area. As we ate we got to watch boats adorned with colorful lanterns
cruise past. The noise from the boat motors was a bit much but the colorful
lights reflected off the Thu Bồn River sure was pretty. After dinner we took
a cab back to the hotel so we could get some rest.
131) Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - Today was Jonna’s
big 60th birthday so the day started with a birthday card. I spared her
having to listen to my rendition of the Birthday Song. Next we grabbed a
quick and modest breakfast at the hotel. The reason our hotel is on the
very edge of Hội An is because of our activity for today - a 4 hour bicycle
ride to the neighboring village and through the rice fields outside of town.
The sky was overcast and the forecast pretty much guaranteed rain but when
we first got on the bikes it was dry. We had a local guide which we followed
first through the neighborhood around our hotel. It was a slow Sunday morning
with ladies sitting on their front porch and calling out "Xin Chào" (Hello)
as we rode past. We also went past some men who were training roosters to
fight surrounded by cages of roosters and with a pair in a big round metal
pit. Needless to say it was a little shocking to roll past just a few feet
away. After about 20 minutes we reached a dike pointed straight out into a
lagoon that was filled with coconut palm trees.
132) Hoai River, Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - After
a little more pedaling we came to a dike-side pier sticking out into an
open lake. In the lake were six basket boats, each rowed by a villager
from the nearby fishing village. We all donned nón tơi (traditional
conical bamboo hats) and got the obligatory tourist photo as we went
around in circles in the boats. We then did a 30 minute tour through the
coconut palm lagoon. It was so touristy it was almost like visiting an
amusement park. There were "stations" where we could get a photo tossing
a thrown fishing net. Another place had a wooden canoe where someone was
doing ink portraits. There were two docks with full karaoke setups with a
microphone passed among the basket boats clustered in front. While we were
rowing through this area, surrounded by dozens of other boats full of
tourists, it started to drizzle but fortunately the guy rowing our boat had
an umbrella so Jonna and I clustered under that. The rain passed in about
five minutes and by then we had arrived at another "station" this one was
the adrenaline station. These basket boats are half spheres originally made
out of woven palm fronds but now made out of fiberglass. For those willing
to pay a few bucks you could climb into a boat with a very skilled pilot.
The pilot would stand in the middle of the boat while the victims sat on
opposite sides. The pilot then started a combination of rocking and paddling
so that the boat would spin around and around while also rolling about 45
degrees off-center so the victims were just going around and around but also
going high on the uplift and the almost into the water on the drop. Jonna
volunteered and went for a birthday spin. The pilot knew exactly how to time
the ride doing about 5 spins beyond when the victim’s face changed from
excitement to dizzy. Jonna wobbled from the spin boat back into ours but I
think she enjoyed being brave enough to give it a try. We had a final paddle
past the waterfront coffee shops and restaurants that are where the
non-cycling tourists started their boat rides and then back to our pier.
The whole ride was pretty hokey but was so over the top it was still a
memorable experience.
133) Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - Getting back on
the bicycles felt much more authentic and we spent the next couple of hours
having a great pedal through the rice fields and farms. Along the way we had
a few more bands of drizzle pass through so we were pretty damp as we headed
back towards Hội An.
134) Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - About half an
hour out we stopped at a little cafe that had a beautiful view out over the
rice fields. We all ordered coffee drinks or smoothies and sat out on the
patio enjoying the view. Then our guide Minh surprised Jonna with a treats
tray as a birthday celebration. We all sang Happy Birthday then we all got to
enjoy the treats that Jonna couldn’t (since they were all way too sweet for
her.)
135) Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - An artsy shot of
the bicycles with the bright green rice fields in the background.
136) Bicycle Tour, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - The final bit of
riding was along the irrigation canals that supply the rice fields. There
were farmers fishing in these canals - some with fishing poles and others
with long electric probes that they used to stun the fish and then a long
pole with a net on the end that they used to scoop up the immobilized
floating fish. We also stopped by a small family farm where the lady
showed us the farming techniques she uses for her herbs and vegetables.
137) Yaly Couture, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - We got back to
the hotel just before noon. We changed into dry clothes and then headed out
with two other couples from our tour to share the cost of a "buggy" back
into Old Town Hội An. We went straight to the tailor Jonna had gone to last
night so that they could do a fitting required for final tailoring. Jonna
tried on her outfit and they figured out where darts needed to be added and
how much hemming was required. We also got a quick tour of the upstairs
where the tailors were working and watched a lady darting Jonna’s item.
These remarkable craftsmen and women make complete items - dresses, suits,
shirts and pants - in less than a day. Jonna picked out the pattern and
fabric yesterday around 3pm. They took her measurements and then went to
work. We went in today at 1pm and the item was completely assembled. The
fitting took about 10 minutes and the finished outfit was probably done
an hour later. They delivered to our hotel that night along with the other
clothes people in our group had made. It is a well oiled machine.
138) Yaly Couture, Hội An, Vietnam, February 23, 2025 - Jonna does love
her sewing so getting a birthday photo with her framed by thread seemed
appropriate. After the fitting we mad a long walk out of Old Town to a
restaurant Jonna had found online. One of the specialty dishes of Hanoi
is Bún chả - a noddle dish with pork, a vinegar based broth and lots of
extra ingredients like fish sauce, garlic, hot peppers, carrots, cucumbers,
basil, "purple herb" and "rice paddies herb". She didn’t have it while we
were in Hanoi and regretted that so she was excited to find a restaurant
in Hội An that sold Hanoi street food. They also made a vegetarian Bún
with tofu that I could have. We both enjoyed the food and it was a little
more of a locals place than the crowded restaurants in Old Town. Just as we
walked out the door it started to rain again. This would continue to be
the pattern for the rest of the day. 5 minutes of drizzle then 10 minutes
clear. Then another round of sprinkles and maybe even real rain for a
minute. I was damp for the rest of the day... we had a few errands to
run so we once again struck out on a long walk. On our way to the Post
Office we passed some military bunkers left over from the war. There was a
sign explaining this was the site of a battle were brave Viet Cong defeated
South Vietnamese soldiers and captured a General in 1967 which was an
important battle in throwing off the American occupiers. The blatant
nationalistic propaganda sounded very similar to the what I am hearing from
our own government these days... earlier, on our bike ride, we had gone past
a Communist Party building which had rousing music with triumphant sounding
lyrics blasting from speakers mounting on the walls. Is that next for us?
Anyway, we managed to find both the post office and a bank so our "to do"
tasks were done. We the made big circle around the edge of Old Town before
venturing back into the tourist scrum to get a few more postcards. With that
done we decided we’d had enough of being wet so we made the walk out of the
tourist area and over to the parking area where the taxis waited. It took a
couple of tries but Jonna eventually negotiated a taxi’s rate down to almost
what our guide had gotten for us last night (last night we paid $2, tonight
we paid $2.50) We got back to the hotel took off our soggy clothes and
declared we were done for the day. We spent the late afternoon and evening
resting and watching a movie on my tablet. I ran out to the front desk to
collect Jonna’s outfit and heading to bed. We climb back on the bus tomorrow
to continue south along the coast and into southern Vietnam.
139) Tan Thanh Beach, Tan Thanh, Vietnam, February 24, 2025 - Not much
to report for this day as it was a travel day as we moved from Hội An to
Quy Nhơn. We did make two brief stops but mostly it was 9 hours crammed
into a bus seat. We woke up to rain and spent all day with it raining.
Apparently there was a late season monsoon storm that moved into Central
Vietnam yesterday and it will be raining today and tomorrow as well. We
heard there might be flooding in some areas but we didn’t see any evidence
of that on our drive. Our first stop was about 45 minutes into the drive
as we passed the fishing village of Tan Thanh. In 2016 a group of South
Korean artists came to this small seaside fishing village and covered the
buildings with murals. During the Vietnam War the US’s largest Ally were
the South Koreans. Hội An Province was their base of operations and so there
is a historical link between South Korea and this area. It was raining hard
when we arrived at the edge of the village so our guide offered to just
have the bus driver do a slow roll through town but 10 of the 12 people on
our tour all volunteered to get out and do a walk instead. Honestly, I
think we caught our guide off-guard with our willingness to go out in a
monsoon downpour. We did about a mile long walk along the beach and then
moved over to the main street of the village. Besides the rain there wasn’t
much to report. The murals were pretty but kind of standard fare as murals
go. Nothing I saw seemed particularly unique or outstanding as an artistic
expression. Then again, I wouldn’t expect that given the cultural and
political necessities that went along with this project. No Korean artist
was likely to make a strong political statement when painting a mural on a
wall in a Vietnamese village when the entire project was intended as a
symbol of peace and reconciliation. We did come across a really enthusiastic
cafe owner who practically begged us to come take a photo in front of his
cafe so he could use it for advertising (ads of happy white people are
*everywhere* here). We obliged but I can’t imagine ten drenched people
wearing drippy rain jackets made for much of a photo. He invited us in for
coffee but didn’t seem too sad when we declined. He was just tickled pink
to have his ad photo. We also walked past the town market - a very modest
affair after seeing the giant markets in Hanoi, Hue and even in Hội An.
This was also a real locals market with no pretense of selling things to
tourists. Mostly just fish and veggies for sale, all by old women who were
squatting on the ground with their products on a tray or plastic bag. They
all gave us big smiles and waved as we walked by. Just a block away was a
coffee shop with our bus parked out front. There were a dozen young men
inside smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and watching video on their
phones. No fishing in a monsoon so getting jacked on caffeine and nicotine
was the day’s agenda. We had a quick drink mainly so we didn’t feel guilty
about using their restroom. I ordered a coffee with sugar and condensed
milk. I got two tablespoons of thick, dark coffee that may have been made
in the vicinity of sugar and condensed milk but I am not convinced any was
added to the cup. I never drink coffee so for my body shooting back this
mouthful was like mainlining a 220v electrical wire. I got back on the bus
buzzing and still felt wired when we stopped for lunch three hours later.
Wow! Lunch was at a roadside truck stop. I had an omelet with steamed rice
and Jonna had pork short ribs. The ribs turned out to be in a candy sweet
sauce which meant Jonna was the one buzzing for the afternoon. Because of
the rain our bus driver had to dial back the speed a bit. He was still a
pretty assertive driver in traffic (and we were in traffic all day!) but
we were running about an hour behind schedule when we stopped for lunch
at 2:30pm. After lunch it was straight back on the bus for another 2 1/2
hours of driving.
140) Cánh Tiên Tower (Fairy Wing Tower), Nam An, Vietnam, February 24,
2025 - As we finally neared Quy Nhơn we pulled off the road for our
second sightseeing stop. The Emperor Citadel in Nhon Hau was built by the
Tây Sơn brothers in the 18th century during the civil that was being waged
between the Trinh and Nguyen. The Tây Sơn are folk heroes in Vietnam because
they defeated both Thai and Chinese forces that tried to invade Vietnam
during the 18th century (in contrast to the Nguyen who succeeding in
unifying all of modern Vietnam but did so by defeating other Vietnamese
and then by inviting the French in to quell resistance to their rule.) So
the ruins of this citadel are highly revered even though there isn’t much
left. Or so it appeared to us from the locked front gate. Apparently the
guard had decided no one would visit in a rainy day and so had locked up
and gone home. Just a 1/2 kilometer away was the 7th Century Champa Empire
tower called Cánh Tiên Tower (Bronze Tower). The gate to this one was open
but the ticket seller was nowhere to be found. We just went inside and took
a look around. This four story tall brick tower, built over 1300 years ago,
was quite beautiful. Far more-so than the knee-high ruined walls of the
Emperor Citadel so I am glad we came to this as a backup plan. As we left
the ticket seller arrived so we retroactively purchased the required ticket
which made him very happy. We got back on the bus for the final 45 minute
drive into Quy Nhơn.
141) Quy Nhơn Beach, Quy Nhơn, Vietnam, February 24, 2025 - We arrived at
our hotel at 5:45pm making it a very long and tiring travel day. We were
feeling pretty low energy and almost just went straight to bed but after
a short rest we mustered the energy to go out and look around. Our hotel
is right on the beach so we walked for a few blocks on the beachside
promenade enjoying the sound of the crashing waves. The rain was temporarily
on reprieve but the concrete walkway was covered with puddles. We reached
the southern end of the promenade and turned back. A block from the hotel
we diverted our route out to the coast road and peeked into a couple of
shops to see if we could find any food for a quick bite before bed but these
just had convenience store fare - chips, candy bars and sodas. So we crossed
the street to our hotel and took the elevator up to the rooftop bar. They
had peanuts and frozen pizzas so we managed to have a meal that was neither
light, nor good nor cheap. Oh well, at least the view was nice. Our hotel
room reeked of stale cigarette smoke but we were way too tired to deal with
changing rooms. The hotel was apparently a popular wedding venue and the
night we were there was no exception. Fortunately, our room was on the 4th
floor so we didn’t hear the karaoke that apparently went on until late but
when we woke up the next day we smelled a bit like an ashtray. Oh, and
starting at 6am we heard Buddhist chanting through the walls so it wasn’t
the greatest night’s sleep. Ah, the joys of travel!
142) Võ Đường Phan Thọ, Bình Dương, Vietnam, February 25, 2025 - Fortunately,
we didn’t have much on the agenda for today. The breakfast buffet at the
hotel was massive but the place was also packed with people so the whole
breakfast experience was a bit overwhelming for my sleepy brain. I just
grabbed a plate of whatever was least crowded and retreated to an empty
table to eat. We had free time from the tour group until mid-day so Jonna
and I went out for a walk. We had gone south along the beach last night so
today we headed north. The path was nice and listening to the waves crash
onto the beach was calming after the crazy breakfast. We also turned away
from the beach to walk into the city to the central post office. They
didn’t have the postcard stamps we wanted but the quest allowed us to see
a residential area with locals going about their lives. We did a little more
walking and then returned to the hotel to shower and check out. The whole
tour group assembled at 11:30am for our one outing for the day. We took an
hour bus ride to the rural area on the edge of Quy Nhơn to Võ đường Phan Thọ
- the Phan Thọ martial arts dojo. Master Hái is a third generation master
of the Võ thuật Bình Định tradition - a Vietnamese style of martial arts
dating back to the Tây Sơn dynasty. We were given demonstrations in hand
and weapons combat by two students and then a bo staff exhibition by Master
Hái himself.
143) Võ Đường Phan Thọ, Bình Dương, Vietnam, February 25, 2025 - Then he
walked us through some stretching, a basic routine and three different
self defense moves. Here I demonstrate how to deal with your wife grabbing
your shoulder...
144) Võ Đường Phan Thọ, Bình Dương, Vietnam, February 25, 2025 - Finally,
Master Hai had his students give us a demonstration of a set of moves done
while balancing on pillars. They then asked for volunteers from our group
- done while the students acted as balance assist and instructor. Jonna
was one of the volunteers and she did a good job.
145) Võ Đường Phan Thọ, Bình Dương, Vietnam, February 25, 2025 - It was a
fun time and neat to see how this tradition is being taught to local kids
(both students were probably late middle school age). We bowed our thanks
and then loaded back onto the bus for the hour long drive back to the hotel.
Because we had already checked out in the morning we just collected our bags
from storage and stacked them for loading on the bus in the evening. That
left us with two more hours of free time. We walked to the nearest store to
grab some snacks for our lunch and then Jonna decided to go for a swim in
the hotel’s pool. I ate my chips and drank my soda while Jonna changed into
her swimsuit. The combination of cold water and a brisk breeze meant she was
done swimming in about the same amount of time as it took me to scarf down
a half-size can of imitation Pringles. At this point we went back to the
lobby where we passed the time playing the card game "Set". After the two
hours we all met back up and once again loaded on the bus. We had ordered
take away food from an Italian restaurant so we added food bags to our
handful of luggage.
Go forward to the fourth '25
Vietnam And Cambodia Photo Page.
Go back to the second '25
Vietnam And Cambodia Photo Page.
Return to Alan and Jonna's Travel Page
Alan Fleming
