Made my first cash withdrawal yesterday. It's slightly unnerving to type six zeros into an ATM just to withdraw $50. It's so cheap here that that'll last at least another five days. Actually we are all getting so acclimatized to prices that when the laundry came back today and cost 130,000 Dong we were all outraged. Until someone pointed out that's about $6.50 for 15 items. Not bad really.
The trip from Hue to Hoi An yesterday was a bit never ending again. So many stops to see so many things. It all becomes a bit of a blur but there were the first real American War relics we've seen so far. It pretty much starts outside Da Nang on the Col de Nuages pass, a very bendy, very steep ascent over the mountains which is not for the faint hearted when being driven by a Vietnamese driver. Particularly through the road works sections which are careful marked off with a bit of stick and a giant pothole. Good job no one drive on the correct side of the road anyway. After surviving the trip to the top we got to see the above pill box bunkers. The first defenses built by the US after the landed in Da Nang. They are pretty sturdy and command a great position in the pass but I cannot imagine what the GIs thought when they arrived from Lickspittle, Iowa and were put straight in a concrete target in the mists of a Vietnamese mountain. No wonder so much pot was smoked. Speaking of which we also went to China Beach. Apparently this is a famous tv series as well as the main R&R resort for Americans. I've never heard of the tv show but the beach was nice (in a way that no Australian would agree with considering the beaches in Oz). I would guess it was amazingly wild during the war, now it's pretty much deserted and ripe for development. A pity then that it's in Da Nang which must be one of the most charmless depressing towns we've seen so far. Our guide explained there was nothing to see except the beach and the Cham museum, and he should know as he was a refugee here for two years.
More and more little details are emerging about Mr Hua. It sounds like his family was on the wrong side during the war (that is, NOT Uncle Ho's) and there are still consequences of this almost 40 years later when he and his kids tried to get university place. No one can hold a grudge like a revolutionary can hold a grudge it seems.
Although they don't seem to mind taking their old foreign enemies money. All along the road from Da Nang to Hoi An are huge, mostly half finished, resorts funded by French and US hotel chains. How they are ever going to finish them let alone sell all the villas is beyond me in these allegedly straitened times. Although the developers obviously have a lot of faith in Greg Norman as shown by his face being plastered on every lamppost for kilometers around. I wonder if he's even aware that he's building a golf course "community" in Vietnam?
Hoi An is a beautiful place but by far the most touristy place we've been so far. Not that that's a big issue at this point as we are all quite glad to be able to get a decent coffee and some food without noodles for a while. The whole old town is pretty much as it was in the C16 & C17, except every house is a tailors, cafe or flogging Tin Tin in Vietnam reproductions. Still very pretty and best of all it's pedestrianized in most street so there is finally respite from the scooters and the tooting of horns. Except outside my hotel which is on a corner and unbelievably noisy. And also the least pleasant place so far. Not particularly clean and lots of reports of bedbugs. Not that I have any; and believe me I looked VERY carefully when I checked in.
Everyone has been getting measured for clothes and I was going to get a linen jacket made for $60. Which isn't really that cheap and I'd never actually wear it. Unless there was a wedding or funeral. It would shopping for the sake of if really. So I bought a shirt instead. And just to proove you really can't escape Jezza, Captain Slow and the Hamster it appears I've ordered it from their tailor. The little girl asked me "did you see us on Top Gear?". The world is so tiny now. I hope it'll be ok as they are just delivering it to the hotel tomorrow so I don't need to go back and get it. I think the returns policy is non-existent.
Most of the group have gone to Mai Lai today to see the massacre memorial but I gave it a miss. I think I'll have enough atrocity tourism when I get to Cambodia. Instead I decided to rent a bike and cycle along the river. I was going to get a moped but I'm glad I didn't after seeing the state of the push-bike. It didn't actually fall apart but sure as hell felt like it would. The chain came off about four times and typically when I had left the wet wipes at the hotel. Luckily a string of helpful Vietnamese people gave me tissues and newspaper to wipe my hands so that was good. I'm amazed I survived the traffic really but it seems the "don't look too much and you'll be fine" method really works here. I got back just as the rain started so I'm having a beer on my balcony being deafened by the traffic below. The hotel has a New Years Eve do tonight so I'm saving my strength to try and stay awake 'till midnight. I think this may be an impossible ask but peer pressure is a terrible thing.
Next update will be next year.
Happy New Year to all!
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