Another day, another World Heritage Site: Hoi An
An evening arrival into Hoi An, yet another World Heritage Site. It’s popular and expensive, and takes a while to find somewhere to stay: not helped by us heading in completely the wrong direction to begin with…
Hoi An is a pretty little town, full of narrow streets, buildings which remarkably resemble their appearance in old photographs, a nice little river front and a busy market.
Also, there’s a lot of sewer work going on, and nearly every road is dug up. Never mind, the motorbikes now share the pavements too.
The day we do our tourist bit, it’s uncomfortably hot. There’s an old Cantonese meeting hall (ie. another pagoda).
The Tan Ky family house is impressive, and the 7th generation of that family still live there, in a semi open building next to the river.
There’s dark wood furniture all inlaid with mother of pearl pictures and Chinese script. Hooks on the ceiling are used to raise the furniture up to the ceiling when the river floods.
The market is nice to walk around, though ending up foot deep in fish guts was too reminiscent of the last bus ride in Laos….
Apart from wandering the old town, and eating the local specialities of Cao Lau (flat noodles, with bacon croutons, greens and sliced pork) and White Rose (shrimp dumplings), Hoi An is also famous for it’s tailors. Not as cheap as it once was, it is still possible to get yourself a tailored suit for between $30 and $65. I wasn’t even going to get this done, but warmed to the idea, so six hours after we got measured, and picked the styles from this seasons “Next Directory” I owned a tailored suit.
I hope it fits next year, and that it doesn’t get swept off the seamail boat!
On the final morning in Hoi An, I take the bus out to My Son.
Ancient Cham ruins, about 35km out of town, it is yet another World Heritage Site. Not sure how many of these there are, or how many I’ve visited, but 3 in 3 days is a lot. Maybe they just forged a few certificates?! Anyway, it’s very impressive. There are seven main sites beneath the green Cat Tooth mountain. Only one is nearly complete. The others have decayed due to the ravages of time, but most were helped along by more of those American bombs. Red brick temples and statues stand in the jungle, along with various artefacts. Interestingly, no-one knows how the buildings have stood for so long: the hand cut bricks are not cemented together. If anyone’s got any ideas, apparently there a bit of money in it for you…. One site is being restored (rebuilt would be a better word) and another is closed for an archaeological dig. I didn’t see the “Time Team”, presumably they are still looking on an adjacent hill side….!
Tags: Travel
Nick