The rain rolled into the Hue region on Vietnam's central coastal strip, so instead of being 98% humidity, it moved up to the big 100%. Locals inform me that this Fall has been very wet, the
monsoon period usually abating by the end of September. No complaints from this bus rider, as only a couple of days in the past month of travel have had daytime precipitation. The road and sidewalks in Vietnam tend to be badly formed in areas, with massive puddles forming and many motor cyclists competing to see how big a splash they can make as they plough through the mini-lakes.
The bus ride down here to Hoi An was a pleasant 3 hours/130kms/ $5US. Picked up at my Hue hotel and deposited in central Hoi An--a 10 minute, $5 streak through the streets on the back of a motor cycle taxi and I located my guest house about 3 kms out on the city outskirts---a little further from the centre than I usually target--but at least away from the city noise.
Hoi An (pop: 126,000) is 15 kms
south of Da Nang--a very major city with an international airport. The name Da Nang might ring a bell for those who recall the war era '68-'75. It was at Da Nang that the US air-force was based and the scene of very heavy fighting. At least the Vietnamese were left with big jet length runways as a basis to build their own international airport.
As I travel south in Vietnam, I observe that it is becoming much more developed & prosperous. Da Nang has construction cranes all over the skyline and the number of resorts under construction, including a massive Sheraton development, numbers in the dozens. Come back in five years and I am sure that I will not recognize the region. I also observe that the heavy hand of the communist party one sees & feels in the north, is much less so south of the old (DMZ) north /south border.
A little disappointed with Hoi An. It contains the largest collection of historic buildings and
traditional style street network of any Vietnamese city and major efforts are being to preserve and enhance the old edifices. Only problem is, in doing so, the whole project falls into danger of becoming a 'Disney-like' zone and a target for the less discerning mass tourist market.....viz: the long parades of Chinese group travellers being pedi-cabbed through the streets in long crocodile formations. Always felt that the pedicab in 2016, was a rather humiliating form of transport for both passenger and driver and have sworn personally not to use this mode. The entire 'old quarter' of Hoi An appears to consist of just two types of enterprise--restaurants and gift shops on a multitude of themes. Interestingly, there is a $6 per tourist levy at the entrance to the motorized vehicle restricted old city zone purportedly to help finance redevelopment of the asset.
Your elderly & humble scribe, breached a new frontier of athletic accomplishment in that he accepted the offer of free bicycle rental from his abode, the Rice Flower guest house, in order to get to the town centre about 3 kms away. Not a mean feat considering that it is 25 years since he last mounted a bike. Great fun, but one that has to be taken seriously, due to the heavy traffic and an almost total lack of road discipline.
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| Lunch time at the lantern shop... |
The bus ride down here to Hoi An was a pleasant 3 hours/130kms/ $5US. Picked up at my Hue hotel and deposited in central Hoi An--a 10 minute, $5 streak through the streets on the back of a motor cycle taxi and I located my guest house about 3 kms out on the city outskirts---a little further from the centre than I usually target--but at least away from the city noise.
Hoi An (pop: 126,000) is 15 kms
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| No caption needed.... |
As I travel south in Vietnam, I observe that it is becoming much more developed & prosperous. Da Nang has construction cranes all over the skyline and the number of resorts under construction, including a massive Sheraton development, numbers in the dozens. Come back in five years and I am sure that I will not recognize the region. I also observe that the heavy hand of the communist party one sees & feels in the north, is much less so south of the old (DMZ) north /south border.
A little disappointed with Hoi An. It contains the largest collection of historic buildings and
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| Grannies counting their takings.... |
Your elderly & humble scribe, breached a new frontier of athletic accomplishment in that he accepted the offer of free bicycle rental from his abode, the Rice Flower guest house, in order to get to the town centre about 3 kms away. Not a mean feat considering that it is 25 years since he last mounted a bike. Great fun, but one that has to be taken seriously, due to the heavy traffic and an almost total lack of road discipline.
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