Hoi An, Vietnam

February 25.
Today Jeff and I stepped out into a new world, and instead of taking one of the ship’s excursions, we located a local driver on the internet and had him take us and another couple to a small town called Hoi An. They are always a bit jumpy when people take off on their own, but we were given strict instructions to make sure the car we get into looks road-worthy (apparently many in Vietnam are not), and we were off. The day was great with a guide that was very informative and spoke English very well with a remarkable vocabulary.
We went through the city of Da Nang, which in 1968 had the busiest airport in the world, bringing American troops in to fight in the war. We saw China Beach, where the soldiers used to have some R&R time. It is now called Da Nang beach - Vietnam no longer speaks or writes the word China. It sounds like it is a very difficult situation with China and we gained some insight into the problems that Viet Nam currently faces.
Hoi An is a delightful town that was an international trading port and the store fronts are much like they were in the past. The town has beautiful silk and paper lanterns hanging over the streets and there are many different types of architectural details due to the influences from all over the world that came with the people trading goods here.
Today brought another meal of mostly unidentifiable foods, but all delicious. A non-Asian family sat down at the table next to us, looked with puzzlement at the menu, and said to the waitress, “we’ll have what they’re having”.
The Kleinschmidt’s broke from the pack today to take a land adventure to Ankgor Wat in Cambodia for a couple of days so we will have lots of new information to share when they get back.
The first photo is a street scene in Hoi An, lanterns everywhere!
The second photo are women transporting their products with baskets that are suspended from poles that they rest on their shoulders.
The third photo is a typical fishing "boat" used in this area. It is really no more than a woven rattan basket that is paddled much in the same fashion as a gondola.Read more