Hoi An and Hue

The old town in Hoi An was charming - a cute, quiet and peaceful place right by the beach. It feels right out of a different time period. The buildings have been very well preserved - there were beautiful Chinese Assembly Halls and little shops selling handicrafts and made-to-order clothing dot the streets. Several people in the group had suits, dresses and shirts made. There is also a riverfront and a bustling market, as well as some lovely art galleries. I bought a painting of the old town done with paint on rice paper. It was a really cool modern and abstract interpretation. Cars were not allowed into the old town because the streets are too narrow and the town is a World UNESCO Heritage site. The only modes of transportation are motobikes and bikes.

The heat in Hoi An was brutal though, making walking and being outdoors nearly impossible. The air was hot, heavy and stifling, making it hard to enjoy the town unfortunately. While we did walk around and even visited a fair trade crafts store and workshop, we spent a lot of time at the hotel trying to stay hydrated and cool. It's pretty sad when spending an extra half an hour on the bus to Hue (we requested the first pick-up) sounds like heaven. We skipped My Son where we had been planning to stop to see the Cham temples and ruins (a lot of it did not survive the Vietnam War since the Viet Cong decided to make this one of their base). It was just that hot.

I am in the Imperial City of Hue right now (another World UNESCO Heritage site). It was the ancient capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty. We took a dragon boat ride down the Perfume River yesterday and visited the Thien Mu Pagoda, the Hon Chu temple and a couple of the royal tombs (the tombs of Emperor Tu Doc and Ming Manh). The pagoda is considered a symbol of Hue. It has seven layers and is perched on a hill surrounded by pine trees. It is beautiful. The tombs (really more like memorial gardens with lakes since their bodies were buried elsewhere) were also really pretty (Ming Manh in particular). Tu Doc was a particularly interesting emperor. He had 104 wives and concubines but had no children. When he died, the 200 servants that buried him were all beheaded to keep the location of his actual burial site a secret so grave robbers would not steal the treasures buried with him. Supposedly, they still have not found the site. And he was also really short, so the statues of civil and military servants in his honor courtyard were all made to be shorter than him - around my height. They looked really funny.

We had been planning to stop by a third one (the tomb of Khai Dinh) but it was too hot and miserable. Oh, and an interesting fact that I learned. The old system of written Vietnamese were based on Chinese characters. The emperors all wrote an autobiographical self-reflections about their life which were carved into these huge stone tablets - in Chinese. That's not used today anymore. There was a thunderstorm on our boat ride back but the boat drivers did not seen at all concerned by the fact we were in the middle of the river while there was lightning and rain. The storm brought with it cooler weather which was a welcomed respite from the heat.

We had an early dinner last night and then went to karaoke. Luckily they had English songs. I think we kept the entire neighborhood up with our loud, rather obnoxious singing. We did not realized how loud we were and how not soundproof the room was. Both Hoi An and Hue do not really have a happening night scene. It seems like most places close by 10pm. Last night was our first "late night" and we were out until around midnight only.

The plan is to hit the citadel later this morning and walk around. I ordered a silk dress earlier - completely made-to-order with hand embrodiery - all for $22. It's incredible. Hope it turns out well.