Vietnam take 2

After Angkor, we flew to Danang, Vietnam – the airport for Hoi An where we were supposed to go in January when we came home.

Hoi An was one of the most important ports in South East Asia at one time. It was a meeting point for traders from China, Japan, India, etc. More recently, it was a French colony.

Hoi An colourful colonial houses and street lighting

Traders arrived on the Northerly winds and had to wait 4 months for southerly winds to sail home so they built warehouses and houses. They also setup permanent business agents. Unfortunately the channels silted up and that killed the port.

Japanese bridge

Bamboo road bikes

Even a bamboo mountain bike

Hard wood town bike

There are many “meeting places” for different nationalities – Chinese, Japanese, …

Meeting of dragons (again)

We went to see a Cultural show with musicians, singers, and dancers in traditional costumes. They handed out “bingo” cards and at the end they called winning cards. Ronnie had the winning ticket and had to go onto stage and collect the prize. They then crossed arms and burst into Auld Lang Syne – in Vietnamese! Ronnie stuck to his Scots words. Bizarre and hilarious!

Auld Lang Syne – in Vietnamese

Lantern trophy

We took a day trip to the “My Son” Hindu temples. They aren’t very well known as they have only been recently opened to the public. The site was heavily bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam war. They had a lot of work to do to clear the bombs and mines and restore some of the temples.

Most of the buildings are made of brick, assembled without mortar over a thousand years ago. Now they believe that some form of tree sap was used to glue the bricks together. The recent renovations using cement are already worn.