i love the smell of asphalt in the morning - Vietnam III

The new entrance to the ruins currently under construction and smelling like the inside of a concrete mixer, My Son, Central Vietnam

After HCMC it was a short flight to Hue, a night there, a morning on the back of a motorbike doing a mad tour around the surrounding countryside, (rice paddies, small villages, Ho's house, temples, you get the idea). I had never been on a motorbike that was moving before so it was quite a new experience. Not the totally terrifying trip I had expected after the traffic chaos I observed in HCMC - but then Hue is much smaller and there was lots to distract me from the road.

The countryside is quite beautiful - surprisingly similar to driving through the Waikato but with rice paddies instead of cows grazing and of course villages in sync with the developing world rather than the developed. It's a strange juxtaposition - dirt roads, houses largely on one or two levels, markets in the middle of the streets, animal carcasses being cut up in front of you, then these fantastic multi-levelled temples and pagodas that were built at a time well before NZ even had concrete or many stone buildings.

Our last stop on the motorbike tour was the serenest spot - a Buddhist temple that is still in use. A monk, wearing a robe over his Western clothes and exhibiting either an Irish or American accent (The Man In The Comfy Chair and I were at odds over its exact origin), asked us if we would like to stay for lunch. By this stage I was in overload from all the sights and smells of the day - for some reason I was about to faint and couldn't actually take in anything new verbally. So TMITCC and the guide kept walking around and I had a little sit down to get my equilibrium back. The feeling of peace was pervasive and just what was needed.

We couldn't stay for lunch though as we had to hop on a bus and drive for three hours to a town near the coast called Hoi An, our base for the next few days. We slept for much of the ride, but stopped briefly at the top of a mountain to allow people to force postcards upon us (ostensibly a toilet stop). It was quite odd to see several generations of bunkers which had protected the pass - French and American - plus a big monument to the Socialist Republic.

Hoi An was probably the highlight of the whole trip for me - it was cooler than HCMC, so not absurdly sweaty but still very hot. It was small and delightful to walk around, and you didn't really run the risk of being killed by an insane motorcyclist or car driver.

Much of the city has been "preserved" i.e. left in the state that it was in when they decided to preserve it. Don't ask me when but it seems it was a while ago. This means a lovely quaint CBD, all single level, and the buildings are lit up quite magically at night. At times motorized transport is also banned from the centre of town, which is nice. Lots of Westerners too, as it is something of a tourist mecca, but everywhere we went in Vietnam, possibly with the exception of a few restaurants and the Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi, non-Vietnamese were definitely in the minority. Even at places like My Son (the picture is of the new asphalt being laid in front of the entrance to this World Heritage Area) there were a large number of Vietnamese visitors, (re)discovering their own history.

We went out to My Son for a tour of the Cham ruins and again I was struck by the technological advances made so early on, in particular the absolutely immense number of uniform bricks. I don't have the first idea what it takes to create a brick, but to make them in this quantity, and of a quality that has lasted centuries not only intact but also in place (largely without mortar) is astounding. Wonder if they had Leaky Building Syndrome?

A 5km bicycle ride from Hoi An is a nice beach called Cua Dai - we went there twice and the locals obviously thought we were mad for actually swimming. Apparently they just don't really do swimming in the sea, it's not a fear thing, just not part of their culture - they go in up to their knees and paddle for a few minutes, although we did see a few men go in properly and sort of wash themselves quickly before getting out.

We ate pineapple on the beach after an interesting conversation with a woman who I tried to tell about the hole in the ozone layer over NZ but I don't think I was really making a connection. Especially as I later worked out that rather than asking me about my "top" (I was wearing a bikini and was white as) she had asked me about my job. Oops. Attempts to explain "trade unionist" had proved futile in discussions with other locals though, so it was probably best to ignore the question and talk about something else anyway.

The food was one of the best things about Hoi An - my favourite meal was local speciality cao lau and a lassi to drink from Cafe Bobo on the main drag. I am going to search out a recipe for this stuff, it was just divine! We also had breakfast at a French style cafe with croissants and real hot chocolate (and many kids trying to sell us postcards and bracelets) and excellent Indian for dinner one night (seemed reasonably authentic, or at least as authentic as Kiwi Indian restaurants are).

We hired a car with driver to get us to the airport at Danang, an hour away, and I was quite sad to leave Hoi An. Quite apprehensive that the rest of the trip wouldn't be as good.

tbc...