Day 85 – Hoi An

Hoi An, the last stop on our tour of Vietnam, sits in the central Quang Nam province upon the pretty Hoai River, right near the coast.

We headed straight into the old town; once part of the famous silk routes from China, the city is renowned for tailoring and its beautiful lanterns which light up the city by night. The old town is pedestrian only, and all the shops and restaurants must maintain a certain style to uphold its status as a National Cultural Heritage Site. It is undeniably visually appealing with buildings all painted in yellow, narrow alleyways lined with lanterns, pretty even by day. It’s a photographer’s dream really, and it was that aspect of the old town I enjoyed the most.

Sadly, after the sheen of the look of the place wears off and you visit a number of shops, you realise most of them are selling exactly the same things and those products appear to be largely mass produced. There were a few nice shops we uncovered and bought some lovely souvenirs from, and we had some good coffees and food in town. We visited the tailors and fabric sellers who were abundant but it was hard to know strictly what the materials were truly made from. The indoor markets had a bit of a buzz about them.

However, after a morning of walking around, we felt we’d seen most of what the old town had to offer, by day at least. We headed over to the paddy fields for a spot of late afternoon birding. I wasn’t hugely successful but caught a nice snap of this Plain Prinia, a bird I’d never seen before. Pretty harsh name.

Day 86 – My Son

Fear not, we have not birthed a baby boy whilst travelling through Vietnam, rather ‘My Son’ is a complex of Cham ruins that is an ideal day trip from Hoi An, if you’re historically minded. Think of this as Vietnam’s version of Angkor Wat, and while it rightfully doesn’t hold the same international acclaim as Angkor, it was fascinating and impressive in its own right. Very sadly, it was bombed the crap out of by Americans in the Vietnam-America War as the Vietcong were using it as an HQ.

Nonetheless, it’s being put back together bit by bit as faithfully as possible, and so there’s lots to look at and plenty of original sculptures to find. I particularly loved the mossy corners (obviously), and finding fading Ganesha statues among it all.

Like Angkor, the site was initially built as a series of Hindu temples between 9th and 13th centuries, but unlike Angkor it remained so without converting to Buddhism. The Champa Kingdom was a powerful ancient civilization that held the southern half of modern day Vietnam. It was eventually brutally and bloodily conquered by the Dai Viet, whose ancient capital Hoa Lu we visited in Trang An, essentially forming Vietnam. After that the My Son Temple complex was left to ruin and not ‘rediscovered’ by French colonial explorers till the 19th Century.

There was also some great wildlife around.

It was an absolute sweat-fest of a day, so after a hot morning of walking around ancient temples in the beautiful countryside, we set off back for Hoi An to dip in our hotel pool and enjoy some well earned relaxation time. Then it was back into the old town for a famous banh mi – famous because Anthony Bourdain went to a specific restaurant and said it was the best in Vietnam, or some such claim. It was truly delicious.

Then onwards for a fresh beer by the river and, for the first time, we witnessed Hoi An by night. It must be said it’s a sight to behold, with several lanterns on each boat, and hundreds of boats out on the water and lining the banks. Light glistened and reflected off every surface.

The streets were absolutely jam packed near the centre.

There was a big gaudy night market set up along the riverside selling plastic waving cats and trinkets of all sorts.

And food hawkers lined the streets.

There’s no denying that Hoi An by night is a spectacle.

Day 87 – Cham Island

It was our LAST proper day in Vietnam (and our last proper day with Lucy! Nooooo!!) so we needed to make it a goodie. You might have noticed we dragged her around a lot of caves like she was on some sort of troglodyte tour, so it only felt proper that we treat her to a bit of beachy goodness at the end. We booked onto a snorkel tour around nearby Cham Island (yes, named after the Champa Kingdom, google it if you want the history), famed for it’s gorgeous coral and sandy beaches.

It was joyous to be on the sea and the sun eventually came out after a tenuous misty start to the day. The sea was full of coral in the two places we stopped and we saw blue starfish, clownfish (AKA Nemos) and big colourful parrotfish among many other aquatic beasties. After that, they plonked us on a paradise island beach for lunch and a couple of hours to enjoy ourselves. We sat with our books on loungers and reminisced about our trip. A monkey came along a few times to raid coconuts people had left after drinking from them. I got a selfie with him.

We had one last way too big meal in our favourite veggie restaurant and drank beer by the pool, not wanting Vietnam to be over.

Day 88 – Good Night Vietnam

Get it? Anywayyy, Vietnam did have to come to an end, as did our time with Lucy. We travelled to the airport together in a taxi and watched the beautiful green paddies and snapshots of people’s lives whizz past us out the windows. Lucy was flying home, we were flying to Malaysia. Tears were shed (not by macho moi of course) at the departure gates and it was with great sadness, but also happiness at a great trip well travelled, that we bade our farewells to Lucy. Thanks for joining us on such an amazing leg of our trip, Lucy – it was truly special and such a joy.

Vietnam Epilogue

We’ve travelled from the hills of the far north, a mere kilometre away from the Chinese border, down to the middle of the country. Let me tell you, that involved some long and unwelcome bus journeys, rattled around our coffin-like pods for many hundreds of miles like mints in a tin. However, it’s been worth it big time and when you look back, it’s never the horrible buses you remember, but the awe-inspiring caves or the glimpse of a ginger baby monkey in the forest canopy above. Vietnam has offered what I think are up there with the best landscapes I’ve seen in my life. It’s fed me utterly delicious, fresh food and it’s revealed a vibrant culture distinctly separate from the rest of South East Asia. Thanks Vietnam!