Day 12 and 13 Hoi An

It's now day 14 and we are now in Hanoi.  Thank the sweet Jesus that train journey is over.  The things that stand out in my memory about Day 12 and 13 in Hoi An are:

(1) The trip to My Son to look at the ancient Cham ruins;
(2) The urgent public toilet trip that ended in disgrace for James;
(3) Collecting our custom made shoes and my tailor made skirts and buying some art;
(4) The lanterns, the great restaurants, and
(5) The beginning of our 18 hour train journey to Hanoi in a filthy, dilapidated and very unpleasant smelling train.

The trip to My Son


Well worth the 5am pick up.  Cost $6 / person if you go there and return by bus.  $8 / person if you wish to return to Hoi An by boat.  Breakfast included which was a quick stop at a local's house.  Freshly made bread rolls and omelette.  We booked this trip through our hotel -  Phuoc An Hotel.  Phuoc An Hotel was $29 or so per night.  It was old but reasonable.  Fantastic Tour Manager who is a wealth of knowledge and a great help, plus we had full use of the Hotel bicycles for the entire 2 days.  It's 2 mins bike ride from the river and all the action in town.  Highly recommend it for the pancakes at breakfast that are included in the room price.

Our trip to My Son was memorable for 2 reasons.  We had a guide who was
about 25-30 years old who spent quite a bit of the tour focusing on the phallic sculptures that were part of the ruins.  When he took a breather from that, he focused almost entirely on his own sex life.

A few more photos:

I think they were bullet holes (machine gun) , but our guide said only bombs
fell in the area during the Vietnam war.  Doesn't he know I watch "Bones"?

The Cham kingdom occupied this area about an hour south west of Hoi An from the 4th to the 13th Century.  It was a religious site, but most of the 68 buildings were ruined by bombs.  20 structures survive today.  It's a pretty spooky and quiet area, but very pretty.  Wouldn't want to be by myself out there at night time.  I can just imagine the tigers, elephants and lions roaming there all those years ago.

Of course no tour would be complete without the resident idiot who has to ask too many questions about too many obvious things.  We had her pinned as a doctor at first, but we decided by the end she wasn't bright enough to have studied medicine.  We settled on social worker.

James' urgent toilet trip

Could I just mention that I have been a prisoner to my children's bowels for 2 weeks now.  Day 13 was to be no exception.  We had bought some expensive pineapple from one of the many hawkers who have harassed us constantly on our trip (see photo below). 15 minutes after eating it, 3 of the kids needed to find a toilet urgently.  Luckily my bowels are used to constant dietary abuse, so I remain unscathed through the many bouts of badly behaved bowel syndrome that they kids seem to attract.  We were in town, so I asked a man where I could find the nearest toilet.  He pointed around the corner.  In Vietnam you just have to look for the sign WC.  I think WC may stand for Wash Cloth.  Something you may find handy over here.  

We had to pay to get in.  I wasn't sure if this was a regular thing, or if some poor person had just set themselves up at the entrance to the loo to get herself some pocket money.  Hard earned cash if that was   the case.  I paid the 2000VND for each of the 3 kids (about 25 cents).  Drew and Gus re-emerged to say there was no toilet paper.  I've been meaning to buy some for 2 weeks but a whole role just seems a bit excessive to carry around.  The lady we had paid handed them each a few small squares and off they went.  The rest of us stood outside and marvelled how the waste from each toilet flush could be seen coming out a pipe at the rear of the toilets before it disappeared down a hole below.

The pipe, the space and the hole

Drew came out but Gus and James failed to reappear.  I went to investigate.  I found Gus standing in front of James' cubicle.  James cubicle had no door and he was struggling to finish up.  In the time that he had been sitting there in his doorless, paperless toilet,  2 women had come in to use the toilet.  All he'd been able to do was wave weakly at them as they passed by.  I didn't have my trusty scalf with me to use as a door, so I did all I could and I stood outside the toilet block to fend off any further intrusions until he was able to finish and clean up.  The younger boys stood near the effluent pipe and diagnosed James before he came out.

Custom made clothing and art purchases

It may just be our experience, but the shoes we had fitted and bought are shit.  The boys all ordered sandshoes / sneakers.  I ordered a pair of summer thongs and a pair of high heels.  Drew ordered sandals.  The shoes all ended up appearing to have no obvious left and right shoe.  Just like big blocks.  George's are too big and the holes the shoelace thread through have already broken and ripped.  The leather is crappy quality.  They cost about $30 - $35 and I just don't think it was worth it.  The exception to this are my leather thongs.  I think they cost less and they've turned out fine.

The dressmakers on the other hand are great.  Unfortunately as you ride your bike around town you get to see tiny little shops filled with teenage boys making the garments you have been fitted for at the ritzy shops. I'm hoping I'm not the cause of the exploitation of these young men.  I think I may be and I do feel mildly guilty about that.  Not enough not to have my skirts made though.  They urned out beautifully by the way, and cost me $35 each.  

We bought some art from Son Gallery at 57 Tran Phu Street, Hoi An.  Phone 0903 578 354.  I'm no art critic but it is by far the nicest gallery I have come across, and it has a lot of different Vietnamese artists work on display.  Most are locals or have been locals, and because it's their local town, they are selling way cheaper than anywhere else.  We spoke to and bought some art from Tran Viet Son.  An absolute gentleman who is completely passionate about his work.

The lanterns and the restaurants

A trip to the dentist is in order. Soft drinks only cost 25 cents at the restaurants.

Ambience topped off with the Rod Stewart soundtrack playing
softly in the background.

Gus makes friends with a (hopefully) rabid-free dog.

Gus makes friends with the 90 year old lady who sold us the pineapple that led to the toilet fiasco.  I made Gus stand
real close to her for the purpose of including everyone in the photo.

18 hour train trip

I wanted to take the train to Hanoi because I heard the stretch of land between Danang and Hue was breathtaking.  Beach meets mountains.  We weren't disappointed.  If those same beaches existed in Australia there would be cities built around them.  As it stands, they are just surrounded with jungle and a handful of huts.  I don't know however, if my long journey was worth the 2 hours of beauty viewed from our filthy cabin window.  

Our room for the journey was 3m x 4m room, tall enough to fit 2 lots of 3 beds one on top of the other.  The doona covers stank and so did the old, thin pillows and mattresses.  Fitting the 6 of us and our bags into the tiny room was an achievement.  The toilets...oh the toilets!  They were filthy and you had to stand in a pool of urine to use them.  18 hours was too long for me to hold out.

We look like a happy bunch waiting at Danang Station to board the
train to Hanoi

This is after 3 hours on the train.  Still capable of smiling

Following a great night's sleep, Drew closes her eyes to block our
her brother's fighting

Everything was a little depressing when we first got on.  The room was horrendous.  There was no way I could spend that amount of time that close to my children!  We kept it cheery at first.  Dinner arrived on a roller trolley that came past each room.  We had some manhandled kebabs, some rice and some boiled cabbage.  Mmmmm.  After dinner things began to deteriorate.  Everyone was fighting over the computer and who wanted to watch what, who had it last, who hated who.  We have 2 computers with us, but that just isn't enough for a situation like this.  The horrible boys from a soccer team next door kept thumping on the wall.  They were either telling us to shut up, or perhaps they were just saying hello.  They had the energy to continue this game for the entire trip.  We went to be about 9pm after 4 hours of travel.  We each had our bags at our feet, so we were all cramped and complaining.

Try as I might, my muscular thighs were of no use in keeping me above this filth.
Whenever the train lurched I was thrown from side to side in the cubicle.  My bum
eventually made contact.  Mouth-breathing was essential!

A new a wonderful day dawned, and the kids began the fighting again. There was spitting, punching, farting, bullying and foul language to deal with.  CONSTANTLY!  We pulled into Hanoi about 11am this morning.  Thank God the hotel we are staying at sent someone to collect us.  For $10 we were met on the platform and driven straight to our hotel door.  

And so commenced day 13.