Hoi An

Saturday 24th January 2009

Hoi An is the next stop on the cards so I book an over night bus to take me there. Its a sleeper bus so we all get a bed...that's some service! We arrive in Hoi An about 7am so its straight to the hotel for a shower and some breakfast. As I go down for breakfast there is only one other person sitting at the table. "Morning" I say, "Morning, Jasus what part of Ireland are you from?" The fella replies in a thick Cork accent...and sure enough as any Irish people who meet your first aim is to try and establish who you might know in common. I tell him I've been working in Cambridge for the past 7 years and he says "Jasus sure I've played music around there boy, do you know the Earl of Derby?" and this is where it all begins. Its a small world, he's known Tadhg (the owner of the Earl of Derby) for years and plays in a band called Loudest Whisper (pretty popular in Ireland a few moons ago). Its not the first time this has happened on the is trip and I am sure it won't be the last! After all that we agree to meet again for a drink or two and I then venture off into the old town to get a feel for the place.

Its like a step back in time, narrow lanes with lots of colonial architecture. As I'm walking through everyone seems to be getting ready Tet, they are busy painting buildings washing paths & drive ways & putting up decorations. The market like any other I've seen so far is madness, people are everywhere, motor bikes pushing through the crowds, lots of shouting and of course the sound of horns from the motor bikes. They are no end of places to eat here, food seems to be the highlight of this place! Restaurants galore plus some fantastic bakery's!

TET (Chinese New Year)

On the eve of Tet they have arranged some celebrations along the river side. Its a pretty quiet affair, but colourful none the less. We are all expecting it to go on until 12am and bring in the New Year in style...but that wasn't the case. It was all wrapped up at 10pm and the only people celebrating at midnight were the tourists! Walking back to the hotel that night you could see a lot of the Vietnamese were bringing in the New Year in their own homes. Some were outside their houses either burning paper along the road side (not sure what all this was about) or having a party & a few drinks. I end up getting invited into a party, its all civilised enough but some of the Vietnamese sure like to drink. None of the people have much English so the best way to communicate is just to drink when they drink. At this stage I've had enough beer for the night so I just stay for a couple and wish them all the best for the New Year.The following day, first day of the New Year, seems to be a very special one. Very few shops are opened and it seems to be considered a day of rest for all...well today and probably the next 2-3 days for some! Everyone seems to be dressed in their Sunday best either drinking coffee & green tea in the local cafes or families of 4 sometimes 5 are loaded onto bikes going to different destinations. I doubt you'd get an entire Irish family on one of those bikes, certainly not the 9-McMorrow's! later that day I decide to hire a bike and go see Danang & China Beach. Its about a 30min drive from Hoi An but its a very different place. Its Vietnam's 4th biggest city and it seems to be a very big port town. Along some of the roads next to the beach you could well think you were somewhere in the US. Its 3-4 lane wide roads lined with Palm trees.

It seems as if these huge roads have only been recently built as there are now vast amounts of resorts been built along the beach front where it seems as if there was once nothing and to the other side of the road you can see the remains of many villages the road has cut through. The beach front stretches all the way back to Hoi An, Cu Lao Beach...about 30km.