One glorious week in Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hoi An (Part 3)

When the time came to move on to Hoi An, we tried desperately to get an early flight to Danang, but unfortunately they were very busy. So we ended up being booked on a lunchtime flight. A bit of a shame really, midday flights always seem to leave travellers with a sense of having done nothing else, that day. Still it gave us a few more hours to stroll around the capital. We occasioned upon a ceremony outside a shop. Lots of beautiful Vietnamese girls in traditional Ao Dia dresses were standing outside the shop which had been decorated to resemble a marquee. I asked a passer by what was happening and she explained that it was a pre wedding ceremony. The young couple get all their friends and family together at the family business for drinks and food. The real wedding would take place a week later. It looked delightful.

Eventually we got our taxi to the airport and flew of to Danang. We were collected by the hotel courtesy van and driven the 45 minutes or so to Hoi An. We duly arrived at our hotel and checked in. Hotels on Hoi An are about as cheap as anywhere I have ever been. I managed to get a really nice room with air-con and a balcony for $8.00 per night, Amazing value. Hoi An is quite simply, beautiful. It is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen. Knowing that we were only going to be here for three days, we went in search of tailors. We had all planned in advance to buy something from the world fam-ous Hoi An tailor shops. This is not hard to do in Hoi An, every other shop is a tailor shop. Between the four of us, we bought two three-piece suits, four shirts, one dress and one jacket. The whole lot was made to measure and was ready in twenty four hours. Total cost, $320.00. Amazing value and excellent quality.

We went on from the tailors and found a delightful restaurant overlooking the river. Every bar shop and house along the Riverfront appears to be bedecked with lanterns in Hoi An. It makes for a delightful vista, our balcony top, table by the window was really good. After dinner we went for a walk and managed to find a bar that was selling draught beer for $0.25. I remember thinking that I might grow to like this place. Suitably refreshed we strolled over a delightful illuminated bridge onto the other side of the river and went into a bar. $0.20 for a beer here, my God! They’ll be paying us to drink it next. Soon it was time to turn in, it had been a very busy day.

After a very good sleep and an early breakfast, we decided to go and stroll round the Old Town. Tickets cost $6.00 and this entitles the bearer to enter five historical build-ings. We entered the Old Town via the famous Japanese Bridge. 400 years old, this has seen much change to its surroundings. Rebuilt twice, it is a fascinating structure, the only bridge in the world with a Buddhist temple, built in. It is only small but very beautiful nonetheless. We visited an interesting old house / temple. the family still living there were the same as had been doing so for generations. Three of their ancestors were famous authors in Vietnamese literary history.

But enough of this culture, it was time to hit the beach. The beaches around Hoi An are really quite lovely. I had been given the impression that Danang was where it was all at, but not at all. A few hours lying doing nothing, was just what was needed after a few quite busy days. I really enjoyed the beach here, the sand is good, the water is really clean and warm and the view over the sea with the Cham Islands looming large, is amazing.

My friends had fittings for their suits and I had a couple of shirts to pick up. That duly done, we went in search of pancakes. Hoi An style pancakes are very nice indeed. Two pancakes, fried in an amount of butter that should be illegal, in between is pork, shrimp and bean sprouts. This is served with sheets of rice paper, a dipping fish sauce and some shrubbery. The trick is to take a piece of pancake, add herbs and greens and roll into a spring roll. Then dip and eat, really quite delicious and very fresh tasting. After lunch, it was time to go to the beach again. I really could get used to this life. Hoi An seems to have that perfect balance of great beaches, to chill out and do nothing combined with loads of interesting things to do in town. I was so impressed with this delightful small coastal city.

In the evening we went to restaurant that a friend had recommended to me. The White Marble on Le Loi, is a small almost easy to miss building. It boasts a fantastic wine se-lection and I have to say, some of the best food I have eaten in Vietnam. When you see the size of the kitchen it is almost inconceivable that they can conjure up such culinary magic. I decided on a set meal for about $16.00 which included a rather good glass of red. We started of with white rose; dumplings served with a lovely dip. Then we had deep fried dumplings with a truly amazing ginger sauce. This was followed by a fish course, with a lovely aubergine hotpot, that tasted so meaty it was hard to believe it was a vegetarian dish. The dessert was sweet banana spring rolls. This really was a meal fit for a king. We headed off in search of more $0.20 beers and duly found some.

My friends were moving on to Nha Trang later in the day, whilst I was remaining in Hoi An. We hired motorbikes and went for a ride to the beach. I am well used to riding a bike in Vietnam, having my own in Saigon. My friends were a little nervous and sceptical to start with, but soon lost their inhibitions within about 5 minutes of heading out of town. Sensible motorbike riding is the best way to travel in Vietnam, by a mile. Journeys that tie up 30 minutes on foot take but a few minutes, enabling the rider to get round the area with ease and see much more than they would have done. Traffic in general moves slowly here and whilst it seem utterly without any rules at first glance, driving does have a pattern of sorts and it works. I am the first to admit though, that for the first timer, it is daunting. My friends left for the airport and I enjoyed a great day to myself. I poodled about on the motorbike, returned to the beach, on the way I found a great little coffee bar and enjoyed one of the best coffees I have had since I arrived here, and Vietnam coffee is almost always, good! In the evening I even managed to find a bar showing Premier League football and watched Man City win again.

The next day was my last full day in this beautiful sleepy town. I jumped on the motor-bike early in the morning and went for a traffic free drive. I drove all the way to the out-skirts of Danang a treated my self to a nice breakfast. I chilled out for an hour then road back to past Hoi An and along a lovely coast road for a few miles.This was really great biking terrain. There was hardly any traffic and the view, with the sea on one side was stunning. On the way back into town I managed to find, what has to be, the cheapest beer on the planet. It was a mere $0.09 for a draft beer! Just imagine that! Eleven beers for one dollar. In the evening I went into town and enjoyed what was to be my last meal on the trip. I retired early as I had an early morning flight.

How Damned hard can it be to check out of a hotel? In Vietnam the answer can be, ex-tremely hard! What a nightmare. My taxi to the airport was booked for 6.00am. I was at the reception desk at 5.45am. I was still there at 6.45am, long after my taxi had given up and cleared off! This was Asian stubborn nonsense at its worst. Hotels are cheap in Hoi An, very cheap. My room was $8.00 per night. Having booked on the internet I had decided to stay on for two more days, this I was told was “no problem” I could even remain in the twin room I had shared with Al. When I came to pay, the girl on the desk was adamant that as it was not an internet booking I had to pay the higher rate. I thought this was an imposition, but mindful of my pending flight I bit my tongue. The total bill for four nights should have been $32.00. She spent about 10 minutes fannying about and came back with $125.00. No way, was I paying that. No matter how much I tried to explain, she just blinked and kept scribbling on a piece of paper. I tried everything to make her understand that if the first two nights added up to $16.00 it was highly improbable that the next two would be $109.00. She started panicking, I started getting annoyed and the taxi driver started his engine.

At one point, I tried to go behind the desk to get my passport and the whole shebang went downhill from there. The manager was telephoned and duly arrived. He went to turn on a computer at one point to show me what an internet booking looked like. Eventually I just gave up and said how much for day 3 and 4 then. They both replied $12.00! OK, I’ll pay, it was the only way. But not $125.00 just two nights at $8.00 and two at $12.00. The girl spent another 10 full minutes scribbling on a piece of paper and came up with a figure of $25.00. Normally, I would point out the mistake, but guess what? This was $7.00 LESS than it should have been in the first place! Just plain stupid. I paid, quickly grabbed my passport and went in search of a cab. A motorbike taxi driver shouted to me and I took the risk. There then followed the most hair raising ride of my life. It is 45 minutes from Hoi An to the airport at Danang. We did it in 30! At one point we were on the wrong side of a dual carriageway doing about 60mph.

Finally I arrived at the check-in desk at Danang airport, rattled, flustered and more than a little scared. It was 5 minutes before they closed the gate. The girl on the gate said, “Why are you rushing, relax, it is no problem.” I nearly decked her!

All in all though the end of a simply perfect 10 days. I love Asia and I am starting to rea-lise that Vietnam, has an awful lot of the best bits!

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