On Friday night I went for a drink after work with Alison and Caroline again (and partners, and Nat was there for a bit too) which was nice. I nearly didn't go as I finished work at 8 and had to pack and get sorted for Saturday and my horrible early start to get to the airport but in the end I decided to go and be sociable for a bit. I'm glad that I did as besides being good fun I also got a recommendation from Caroline of a place to stay (I had been meaning to book something in Danang during the week but I never actually got round to it. This turned out to be a good thing!) that was ace and helped make my trip so fun.
I wasn't so enthusiastic about the night before when I woke up at stupid o'clock on Saturday to head to the airport. I couldn't doze in the taxi as VN driving just isn't conduce to a nice restful nap. You spend the entire journey on the edge of your seat unable to believe the crazy things you are seeing on the roads. I planned to sleep on the plane but sadly all the vomiting Vietnamese around me stopped that happening. Every time is was drifting off I'd hear someone puke into a bag which jolted me back awake. Thankfully the flight was only an hour and then I could escape the vomity hell. I got a taxi from the airport to the place Caroline recommended - Hoa's Place. It is in a tiny hamlet between Danang and Hoi An and really just consists of a couple of tiny hotels, a few houses, a cafe or two and a police training place. It was right next to the beach (you could walk to the beach in less than a minute from Hoa's Place) and was really quiet and peaceful - hardly any motorbikes! The hotel itself was nothing special in terms of the rooms but Hoa and his wife were really nice people and had a good setup going on. His house was small and the front area had become a kinda dining room place that was open on two sides and was set up with a bunch of tables and a chiller full of drinks that you could help yourself to as and when you pleased. They cooked food in their kitchen and everything worked on an honours sort of system whereby you wrote down everything you had and paid up at the end. The accommodation was provided in the other hotels in the hamlet and Hoa pimps them out to the guests. I guess he acts as a go-between as there wasn't much English spoken by anyone other than him. The accommodation in my hotel was very basic - a small windowless room with a bed and an en suite but for $5 a night it's a pretty good bargain. I didn't spend much time in my room other than to shower and sleep so it wasn't really a problem. Maybe there are some nicer, more expensive rooms available but I didn't mind my tiny musty room too much. Plus the atmosphere at the place more than made up for it.
The first thing I did once I'd dumped my stuff was go to the beach. It was nice to be by the sea agian. It's a really quiet stretch of beach and its really pretty. White sand and blue sea is always a winner!
I didn't do much else on Saturday expect cross the highway to explore the marble mountain area. There is a small village where every other house doubles as a workshop for marble carvers and there are some hills with various assorted caves and temples going on. The biggest one has been made tourist friendly and so I walked up and had a look around. Stupidly I did this at the hottest time of the day and the humidity was a total killer. Everything was such hard work! It was nice and cool in the caves though, and there were some nice views from the top of the hill. Once again I was struck by how much effort you have to go to if you want to worship at one of the temples - they don't like to make it easy for you to pray here.
Once I was done with marble mountain I finally gave in to exhaustion and had a nap and then I went to the dining area for dinner. This is what made the weekend for me. Each night Hoa's family cook up a meal and its served at communal tables. Admittedly by the third night it was kinda boring having the same food again but it was good food, particularly the spring rolls. However, the atmosphere is what really stood out. You're forced to interact a bit more when sitting around a table to eat from a bunch of dishes in the middle of the table so it was a good chance to chat to other people. There were some really good people staying there whilst I was there which made the evenings so much fun. I guess if they had all been lame people it would have sucked and I would have resorted to spending time in my dingy room but everyone was interesting and it was good fun. I didn't last too long on the first night though before I had to give up and go to bed but I did have a good chat with a Japanese girl and a Finnish couple which was nice.
On Sunday I went down to Hoi An and ha a look around the place. It's an old place with narrow streets and really old buildings, plus a lot of temples and assorted otehr buildings. It's on the river and is a nice place to wander around for a bit. There are also a lot of tailors there and eventually I caved and got a dress and a skirt made. I really regret not bringing my dresses over with me but now I finally have another dress! I also did a bit of shopping as there were lots of pretty things available there. I got a scarf or two and some oil and watercolour paintings. It was a nice place to spend a day and a bit of money and it was really hot and sunny so provided me with an excuse to eat lots of ice cream.
I got back about 6 and was going to head into the village to see what sort of local food I could find but before I went I decided to go get a banana shake at Hoa's Place. I got chatting to people and then the food came out so I gave up on the idea of going to the village and instead ate at Hoa's again. After dinner I joined in a game of uno with some other Brits and two crazy Aussies. We combined two decks to get a monster uno game going on. It was good fun! Then at about 9.30 we headed to the beach and sat around a bonfire! I love beaches and I love bonfires so it was the perfect mix. The company was good too and the Aussies provided that sort of entertainment that only comes from drunken Australians. After about an hour it started to rain so we stole a couple of beach umbrellas and tried to set them up which didn't go so well so soon gave up and just resigned ourselves to getting wet instead. It's warm rain at this time of year down in that part of the country so its all good. It was a really nice night!
Monday was another early start which was hard work but I feasted on banana pancakes which helped get the morning going before heading back down to Hoi An to join a tour to My Son. The tyre on the motorbike had a puncture so we had to stop a couple to times to fix it, and the third time it happened just outside of Hoi An the driver flagged down a random passing motorbike and got the driver to take me to the bus! As soon as we left Hoi An it started to chuck it down and it was still raining when we arrived at My Son. This wasn't promising but thankfully by the time we'd got our tickets and made our way up to the first set of ruins the rain had stopped and the sun came out for the rest of the day. We spent a couple of hours exploring the ruins and learning a bit about the Champa belief system before getting the bus back to Hoi An. I then got a lift back to the beach and spent the rest of the day sitting either on the beach or at Hoa's Place with my book. The beach was really quiet as there's not much around that area- there are resorts some way away on either side but the beach by the village is not at all developed and is really quiet. There were some fishermen pulling in nets and there were a few people at the small cafe next to the beach but that was it. It was so nice and peaceful, and clean! Sadly that might not last for much longer. The area is being developed for tourism and a lot of the land along the sea front is all walled off and earmarked for development. That might soon mean the end of Hoa's Place as the developments are quite fancy - the one up the beach cost $200+ a night - and so the hamlet might not survive. That would be a shame as Hoa's Place is awesome!
I stayed around for dinner again last night and then kept a couple of English guys company whilst they waited for their plane. They were supposed to fly out at 14.30 but their flight had been delayed until 1.30 so they were killing time til they could go back to the airport. Another British couple joined us and we spent about 2 hours playing cards and chatting. As we were all British this was the first conversation I've had in a while where I've not had to explain random British phrases or deal with accent issues and it was nice to chat about British things with British people!
I'm definitely going back there when I need to escape the noise and mania of Hanoi and just want to chill on a beach. I'll also probably go to Hoi An and get some more clothes made - they can make anything you want so I can pull some designs off the net and get them custom made to fit. Sadly next term I am working 5 days a week (admittedly only 2 hours on Mon and Tues) but this means my random travels will have to be put on hold for a term. Maybe the following term I'll get a chance to go away to more places, and back to the beach and Hoi An.
As I've been writing this I've been listening to a link my mum sent me a while back - http://www.radionz.co.nz/popular/music/live?473894_result_page=F - and the Neil Finn and friends one starts with a Split Enz song. Now I regret not bringing my DVD with me as I'm really in the mood to watch it now! Maybe I'll go check out some of the DVD stores in Hanoi and see if I can find a bootleg copy. It seems unlikely it will be available here but you never know! I walked into my class one day to hear Crowded House playing on the radio which was certainly very unexpected!
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