Our brief stop in Viet Nam is over, and we are on our way to Hong Kong.
The port was Chan May, and we could not find it on any maps. This was not surprising, as it was just a large jetty in the middle of nowhere. It did seem to handle a little cargo traffic as well, but apart from the port offices, there was nothing else there. It was a 20 minute bus ride to the nearest village. Da Nang is the city in the area, and it was a further half hour away.
For us, the destination was Hoi An, a world heritage site. The tour was advertised as including three hours of walking in Hoi An, as well as drive through of Da Nang, but no-one seemed to have told our Vietnamese guide that. She had her own agenda. After an hour or so in the coach, we stopped at what we were told was a mountain of marble. In fact we were at a marble factory and shop. The work was interesting, as we saw all the stages, and there were some beautiful pieces. However, the downside was some very heavy and persistent selling. So much so that even Ian got irritated. Any question was met by pressure to buy something. Needless to say we did not. This stop took forty minutes, and should have taken ten.
Back on the coach for a further twenty minutes through the countryside, and we arrived at Hoi An. After disembarking, we visited a silk factory, where they showed us the whole process, from growing the worms, turning them into larva, harvesting and spinning the silk and finally making up the cloth, very interesting, and it took all of ten minutes. Then the hard sell started again. A lot of the passegers, incuing us began to get irritated, as we had yet to start the walking tour of Hoi An, and we had been off the ship for over two hours out of a five hour trip.It was one and half hours back. At this point, our guide began to get the message, and we started walking.
Hoi An is old, and was a port in ancient times. The town was split between the Chinese and Japanese traders, with an old bridge over a canal marking the joint between the two. The bridge itself was four hundred years old, and fascinating. As well as being a bridge, it was also a temple. The streets are relatively narrow, and lined both sides with interesting looking shops, selling mainly clothes and shoes. However, we did not have time to stop, as we had two calls to make. The first was to a 300 years old merchants house, still inhabited by a family that had been in it for six generations. After the is, we moved on to a rather splendid temple, dedicated to the goddess of the sea. This was the end of the formal part of the tour, and when our guide sprung her last surpirise on us, by telling us that we had to be back at the coach in half an hour, and it was about a twenty to twenty five minute walk. There was, as on can imagine, quite abit of muttering about this. We made it in half an hour, having taken a detour so that we could walk along the old harbour side.
It was a very attractive and interesting place, and I doubt that even if we had had the full allotted time we could have done justice to it. As it was, our journey back to the ship went through Da Nang, and was mostly done in darkness.
Our brief impressions of Viet Nam were of a lovely country, slowly being spoilt by the demands of foreign currency generation. We saw signs that serious development is beginning to take place, so that the country can compete for the world vacation traffic. It was hot, humid, and quite clean. Traffic competed for road space, be it a bus, truck or two wheeled. The use of the horn was imperative. We saw very few cars or taxis.
We enjoyed what we saw, but wished there had been more of it.