Day 78 – April 3 – Da Nang, Vietnam

It was a little foggy as we sailed into Chan May, the harbor where our ship has to dock.  There is a port in Da Nang but our ship is too large to sail into.  Fred decided to stay on the ship rather than go on another 8 hour trip.  Jan wanted to go see Da Nang and Hoi An, so she went by herself.  We had breakfast together before Jan left.

There were four buses going to Da Nang and Hoi An.  Jan’s bus was the first off and only had 29 people on it so there was lots of room to spread out.  After driving through the tunnel from Chan May to Da Nang, we had blue, sunny skies.  It was so nice to see the sun and blue sky again.

We stopped in Da Nang at a museum with artifacts from the Cham people.  They were settlers from Indonesia and occupied a large part of Vietnam in the past.  Da Nang is the fourth largest city in Vietnam with a population of about ½ million people.  Lots and lots of motor bikes as cars are still too expensive for most Vietnamese.  The drive to Hoi An took us along the beaches that stretch for miles along the South China Sea (called the Eastern Sea by the local people).  A lot of the beaches are now the site of large luxury hotels.  Some are completed, a lot are still under construction.  Our guide, Huong, told us that there were only three beaches were the locals could go now.  The beaches here are soft white sand.

The only relic of the US base were some air plane hangers along the road at what had been a second air base in the area. 

Our guide’s family had lived in Hue and when the war broke out, they were afraid of the Viet Cong and moved to Da Nang where she grew up.  Later in the day she told us that her family was part of the last royal family in Vietnam and that she would have been a Princess in the old days.  She was quite good and actually asked and learned all of our names.  She used those very effectively if we tried to wander off from her during the time when she wanted us to be together and listening to her.  She did it in such a way that everyone took it very well and most of the time we stayed together.

After a brief stop at a Marble Mountain shop selling marble pieces, mainly for the restrooms there, we drove into Hoi An.  Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is unchanged for centuries.  It is located on river and it is now a very popular tourist area.   The ancient city has lots of small shops and restaurants and several sites to be seen.  Huong had us stay with her for the first hour so we could visit several of the sites.

The first was a covered bridge built by the Japanese.  It was built out of wood.

Next was the oldest house in Hoi An, a house built by a Chinese trader.  Hoi An has been a trading center for hundreds of years and the town was built by the Japanese, Chinese and other southeast Asian traders.  The house was built of brick on the outside but inside was all iron wood and very beautiful.  They served either coke, diet coke, or a local beer as we listened to a bit about the home. 

Then we visited the Thien Hau, Goddess of the Sea, Temple where Huong light incense and prayed for all of us to have a safe trip on the sea and have long life.

The last stop was at a shop that showed how the beautiful silk embroidery is done. Fred and Jan have a piece that is hung in their living room that they bought when they visited Vietnam in 2006.

At that point, we had just over an hour to explore the streets and shops of Hoi An.  There was a small local market but most of the shops were aimed at tourists.  Jan found one that one some better quality silk shirts and she and Fred both have two new shirts.

We were taken into the non-ancient part of Hoi An to a very beautiful restaurant with gardens situated on the banks of a small pond.  While lunch was served as a buffet, it was very well done and the food was good.  They had many dishes to sample, from the spring roll to sweet and sour shrimp to braised chicken with bak choy, soup of white asparagus, and many, many others.  They also had a separate station with noodles and two different soups that they put together in bowl with fresh bean sprouts and herbs then topped with various small condiments such as peanuts, green onions, chilies and the famous fish sauce.  This dish was also very good.  There was fruit and several small Vietnamese pastries for desert.

Jan had discovered that there were two couple and one other lady by herself all from Colorado on the same bus.  So she sat with the other lady (whose husband staying on the ship just like Fred did) and had a nice lunch conversation with her and another couple from Oregon and California.

On the drive back to the ship, we made one stop where we could get out and take pictures of some of the small round fishing boats and of a statue on the mountain of a Lady Buddha.  The sand was very soft and very white.  Unfortunately, we stopped by a garbage can and the smell was disgusting!

Back on the ship, Fred reported a good day but he had eaten a hamburger late and was not very hungry.  That turned out to be just fine with Jan as lunch had not started for her until after 2:00pm and had been quite enough for the day.  So evening was spent in the room reading and enjoying the sail away from Chan May.