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| Mahayana Buddhist Temple |
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| A grandmother and her grandson. |
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| Cantonese Assembly Hall |
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| Spirals of incense. |
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| More incense. Just thought they were cool looking. |
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| Adorable little candle selling girl. |
Hoi An is a small town about 2 hours south of Hue. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to it’s cultural richness. It is one of the few locations in Vietnam that managed to escape the destruction of the Vietnam War. Both North and South made a concerted effort to keep the town intact. As such, Hoi An, still retains its original beautiful architecture and is filled with various temples and religious monuments from Vietnam’s past. Monks roam the streets, each sporting a different colored robe, representing the various sects of Buddhism. Some are yellow while others are red, brown, or gray.
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| Chantra and some of the local kids. |
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| Chantra placing a paper lantern in the water. |
The night we arrived, the moon was a dazzling ephemeral sphere set against a clear night sky filled with radiant twinkling stars. By chance, we had happened into town during the full moon, which in Hoi An, is celebrated with a lantern festival. During the festival, all the lights of the city are turned off and the streets are lit with beautiful paper lanterns. It gave the town an intimate cozy feeling. Families strolled along the streets while children ran and played underfoot. Old gray haired men sat on street corners playing Chinese chess and lovers walked hand in hand holding each other close. It was a beautiful sight.
As we walked through the town, some of the locals pointed us in the direction of the river front. So we headed on over to the river and beheld a beautiful sight. At about 9 o’clock, hundreds of people let loose their paper lanterns into the river. We bought two lanterns joined in the festivities. The two of us stood there and watched as hundreds of beautiful lanterns slowly floated out to sea. It was a fantastic night and a wonderful introduction to one of my favorite cities.
The next morning we took a bus to My Son, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient capital of the Champa Kingdom that was dedicated to worshipping the god Shiva. The Cham were a Hindu people who once populated this region of Vietnam. At one point they rivaled the Khmer civilization in terms of cultural richness and influence. However, with the continued southern expansion of Vietnam, this once thriving civilization is now relegated to obscurity with only a few million inhabitants spread across southern Vietnam and Cambodia. The ruins themselves aren’t too impressive because most of them were bombed to hell during the war, although UNESCO is trying to restore the site. However, My Son is located in a patch of pristine countryside and is surrounded by an incredibly lush jungle. It rained that day and although it made exploring the site difficult, it drove away the other tourists and brought a sense of serenity that would have been absent otherwise.
The day after My Son, I finally decided to take a chance rented a motor bike. Now it doesn’t really sound dangerous right? I mean a motor bike goes barely 50 miles an hour right? Well let me tell you, theres nothing like hitting the roads of Vietnam on the back of a motor bike. Ask anyone who’s been to Vietnam and they’ll all tell you that the traffic here is INSANE. Millions of people going any direction they want, people passing on the left regardless of oncoming traffic, and intersections where everyone just plows ahead without stopping and no one yields to anyone. It took a little getting used to but we managed. We covered probably 100 km or so that day although most of that was spent being lost. Still, it was nice just riding around the countryside and soaking up the sights.
We ended our time in Hoi An at the beach. It was a beautiful white soft sandy beach that stretched on for miles. We just soaked up the sun and enjoyed the heat for once. We watched as the old ladies walked by with their bamboo poles filled with freshly caught seafood. As the sun set, we had a dinner of grilled shrimp, clams sautéed in a spicy lemon grass sauce, and stuffed squid cooked in it’s own ink. Delicious! But the best part about the meal was that we shared it with the three local ladies that prepared the food for us. We all sat in the shade of a coconut tree and they shared some of their grilled fish and pickled vegetables with us. The locals, especially here in Central Vietnam, are always extremely curious about us. They wanted to know who we were, where we were from, and exactly how it was that we ended up in America. They told us about their lives and spoke longingly of their children who had gone to far off towns in search of work. They were genuine and kind and made our stay in Hoi An, a wonderful one.
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| View from train on the way to Hoi An. |
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| Cao Lao Noodles |
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