Vietnam 2018, part 13 (Hoi An, My Son)
I will say nothing new if I say that the food in Vietnam is fantastic. In addition to the one that may be eaten in restaurants and in the streets, the hotels also try to make sure that the breakfast which usually goes with the room is as diverse as possible. Thus, I often had an opportunity to have some typical local food for breakfast. In Hoi An I had amazingly soft Vietnamese buns filled with pork and steamed. This lilac bun was with no filling, but still unbelievably soft.
While I was having my breakfast at the terrace of the small boutique hotel we were staying at in Hoi An, I enjoyed the greenery and the water that extended right behind the hotel. In addition to the nature itself, what also made me happy was that it seemed the weather would finally change for the better.
Originally, I had planned for this day to be free, but in the meantime we had agreed to change that plan and so we organized an excursion to the My Son site. On our way to the site, we passed by numerous rice paddies in which the green plants were well on their growing way.
The My Son site is very important because here was the capital of the mighty Champa Kingdom that originated in India and therefore the temples the remains of which may be seen here today were built for Hindu deities and in line with Hindu beliefs. In the period from the 4th to the 13th century, a unique culture was developed here and this was the spiritual and political centre of the Champa Kingdom. The monuments that were found here at the beginning of the 20th century are unique and without equal in south-east Asia.
The site is in a way rather tucked away between hills, which in the past provided it with a very good strategic position. Nowadays, when you enter the space of the site near the ticket office, first you have to walk a little, then take an electric vehicle for a while and only then do you start with a sightseeing walk around the central part of the site where different structures are scattered.
A good deal of the structures within the site which are marked by groups are still in a rather crumbly state, but some have been reconstructed or only restored, so that it is possible to have a good enough insight into what it all used to look like.
In addition to the time, humid and hot climate, and lush vegetation that grows on any kind of surface, the destruction of the temples was significantly contributed to by the Americans during the Vietnam war when they carpet-bombed this entire area. Even today, it is possible in numerous places to see huge craters made by bombs, although it is also visible that, like at some other sites, the Vietnamese work very diligently in order not only to protect their cultural heritage from further decay, but also to enhance it.
Once we finished with the visit of the My Son site, a few of us were taken to a village where we got of the mini-bus. There we waited for another, larger group of tourists, and then we all together embarked on a large boat and left for Hoi An by it. It was our choice to return to Hoi An by boat going along the Thu Bon river, but admittedly we did not gain anything by that.
In any case, as soon as we disembarked in the centre of Hoi An we went for a walk. Meanwhile the weather became a little better and then the Hoi An sights also appeared prettier.
As we really enjoyed the ice-cream of the previous evening, first we actually went to the islet of An Hoi to the same shop, but this time we also tried lemon-grass ice-cream. From that side of the town we had a lively view at the central part of Hoi An.
Still, we also wanted to do some sightseeing while in Hoi An. The previous evening we bought a ticket for the walk around the old town and with the ticket one actually gets five coupons for visits to different sites – houses, temples or assembly halls. The ticket is valid for a couple of days, so we decided to visit three places that afternoon and two more the following morning.
To start with we returned from the islet to the mainland and there one first comes across the Japanese Covered Bridge which was originally built there in the 16th century by the Japanese community. As I’ve mentioned in the previous blog, in the past Hoi An was an important international port and trading centre. Since several-month-long commercial fairs were organized here, the merchants from Japan and China, as well as from India and the Netherlands, established their centres here. Through some fortunate circumstances, the old town in Hoi An has survived to this day practically intact and in addition to buying all sorts of souvenirs and products in a large number of shops, here it is also possible to visit some of these old houses and assembly halls.
The old town in Hoi An comprises a couple of longer streets that run parallel to the river and a large number of smaller streets that cross the former. In other words, the area is not very large and it may be visited quite quickly and easily, but on the other hand there is no reason to be in a hurry, since the streets themselves are very pretty and picturesque, while there are many places where one can take a break in order to eat or drink something, so it is absolutely worth setting aside at least a couple of days just for enjoying this lovely town.
First we went to the Old House of the Tan Ky family. These houses that may be visited are not formal museum settings, but rather people still live in them, most often the descendents of the original owners. In order to visit the site, it is necessary to give the owners one of the coupons obtained with the ticket for the old town. I suppose that in exchange for the coupons the residents receive some kind of compensation from a tourist organization in Hoi An, in addition to which they also have a possibility to sell souvenirs, thus earning some additional income. At the time when these houses are open for visits, the people who live in them lose a part of their privacy, since they often get hordes of tourists, but I guess one has to make the living any way one can. In the house of Tan Ky, next to the staircase leading to the upper floor there was a board clearly saying that the upper floor was not for tourists. There, the family could have at least a little bit of peace and quiet.
Still, regardless of the crowd, it was nice and interesting to see the design concept of these houses. Some, like this one, face two streets, almost with no windows, but they have an inner yard and in this way most of the house does get natural lighting.
By the way, owing to typhoons and abundant rains, every now and then this entire town is flooded and here on a wall we saw some stickers marking the levels of water. The highest levels were recorded in October 1964, but even some later occurrences were not negligible.
Then we went to visit yet another private house, the Old House of Quan Thang from the 17th century. It has a slightly smaller central inner yard, but on the side it has a large paved yard that extends into a spacious semi-open kitchen.
There we also came across some female family members who were making White Roses, a specialty of Hoi An.
And then we went out in the street where again we came across a number of lovely sights.
Then we went to the Phuc Kien Assembly Hall which was founded in 1773 and where the Chinese from different parts of the country used to congregate.
When we got in, I found it interesting to see a board which was exhibited next to large bags (I presume with rice) and which said that since the New Year was coming (the Chinese New Year, around the middle of February this time around), the community wanted that everybody rejoiced and that everybody could rejoice, so if there were anybody with insufficient funds, they should contact the assembly and then they would get an assistance in order for everybody to have, if not a feeling of abundance, then at least a feeling of the absence of poverty.
Then, here I saw the biggest incense sticks in my life that had the shape of large spirals which extended conically, with a piece of paper hanging in the centre listing the name of the person (or perhaps the family) for which the incense had been lit.
However, what made the strongest impression on me was a myriad of very pretty architectural details that may be seen especially on the roofs of the buildings belonging to this complex.
By the time we had visited all of this, including the walk around the streets and window shopping, it was already the time for dinner and this time we had no dilemma, but rather headed straight to the Central Market where again we had a lovely meal. We also had a laugh since at the same place we encountered some English women with whom we had exchanged the impressions of the food the first time we ate there. They obviously liked the place as much as we did and the food was apparently according to some unwritten “international standards.”