Hoi An Tour

Hoi An, Vietnam, March 24 2006


Hoi An is the next stop as I head North on the Ho Chi Minh trail up Vietnam. This city was an important Sea Port in the 15th Century and has many of the influences intact through it's architecture.

I started my day by wandering down the street to a local restaurant for some breakfast. This is what I see from my table.
A few minutes after I sat down, I was joined by my new best friend and guide, Maboon, who is an unemployed Engineer. He was very interested in learning English and asked to be my motorcycle guide for the next day or so. I negotiated a price of five hundred thousand Dong (about thirty dollars Canadian) for him to show me around for the next two days.


We started with a tour of the local historical sites. This is the 'Japanese Bridge' which was built in the 17th Century and is the most famous landmark of Hoi An.

Maboon then drove me to the 'Handicraft Workshop where I was able to see local Artisans carving statues as well as many other crafts.

We then walked through a five hundred year-old home. The best part though, is meeting the people who show the home.

This woman is a direct descendant of the family associated with this structure. I asked her to pose by this flowering shrub because she has such a beautiful face.

After exploring many of the local sites, I had Bonsoon take me the Hoi An beach. The waster was too cold for a proper swim but the sandy beach was great to walk on.

This woman was selling snacks as we relaxed by the Sea. This is the traditional dress of the Vietnamese woman. The sun can be intense in this part of the world and those hats really help to keep the people cool and away from the direct rays of the sun.
Hoi An would be a wonderful city to retire in. It has a sleepy quality and sense of serenity to it. Next stop, the ancient Kingdom of 'My Son'.

Saigon And Sexy Bar Girls

This is Paul from America. He toured the Vietnam War Museum with me.

After looking at the horrifying images and reading the heart-wrenching accounts from the people who of that era, we decided there was only one thing left to do. We went drinking.

Paul is an English teacher working in Japan. As we were sitting in an outdoor restaurant drinking our Tiger beers, we met up with another guy from our tour, who is from Japan. So Paul had a great time conversing with him in Japanese as we all talked about our day and decided what kind of trouble to get into tonight.

I said that as a joke but in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) you just have to sit in one place and trouble with always find you. I happened to glance at this woman and the next thing I knew she was asking me if I wanted to go for a motor bike ride. I thanked her for the invitation but declined. So then she sat down beside me and ordered a beer. I asked her why she wasn't drinking it and she told me she didn't like beer but she said she DID like me and would like to invite me back to her hotel room across the street for the very reasonable sum of three hundred thousand Dong (about twenty dollars Canadian). She sat with us for about twenty minutes and I gave her a small amount of money and she left.

Meanwhile we had many vendors come up to us selling books and cigarettes. This woman wasn't shy. She just figured that if we weren't buying what she was selling, we didn't deserve to get a free photo of her. By the way, the cigarettes here are three dollars a pack, Canadian.

So as the evening is progressing, we are solicited every few minutes by taxi drivers, prostitutes, street vendors, and women and their babies, begging. They're not destitute. They just do it because it's an easy way to get money from tourists. And all the while, right behind us, at Ten at night, these two little guys, are happily playing with the wheel of this motorbike, like it's a big sandbox toy.

The three of us decided to play pool. We were met by some lovely women who work for tips and drinks. They were great company. We left the first bar after about half an hour because we either had to take the women to bed or move along. This is the second bar we went to.

And this is Nguyen Dung. She's twenty-five years old; and a pretty good pool player. We spent a couple of hours with Nguyen and her friends. This is the thing about Vietnam that I'm finding. It is a captivating country. Everything is so intense and vibrant here. The people are so engaging. I find at the end of the day I have experienced a huge range of emotions. It's like being on a roller coaster. In this country the one thing you come to realize is that there are no spectators. We are all participants, one way or the other.

My Vietnam Family

Saigon Steve here. Just reporting in from my new home in Vietnam.

Here I am with my adopted family. We're just enjoying a few of the
sights in this wonderful country.

I wanted you to see this statue, Melbah. Her face reminds me so much of
you.

This is Lien's sister and her niece enjoying the beautiful (deph)
gardens of this Vietnamese theme park. Her sister is studying English at University. I think her face is vibrant.

At the end of the day, Bill and Lien invited me to have dinner with a
few of her family members at a favorite restaurant. The main course
was Goat Satay. Every few minutes we would all do the Vietnamese
toast together: "Moh...Hye...Bah...YO!!!!!!!!" (One, Two, Three,
DRINK!!!!).

During the day at the Theme Park I helped 78 year old auntie to get
up and down the steps. So when it came time for dinner, she plunked
herself down beside me, held tight to my hand and didn't let go for
the evening. It's a good thing I only needed one hand to eat.

So how how are the Vietnamese people treating me so far?