Riverside at Cua Dai

Our Chef for the day
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Our first domestic flight in Vietnam on Jetstar Pacific is uneventful, just as crammed as Jetstar in Australia although just like the flight to HCMC its apparent that flying is still a novelty to many Vietnamese. The old lady opposite us has great difficulty unfastening her seltbelt, pushing the sides, trying to get a button to work until finally the person next to her shows her how its done. arriving at Da Nang there is nobody to meet us despite having arranged a pickup so we catch a cab which costs about $20 Aus I think! No problem at the hotel, they had not been sure about the time, they had looked at our original booking and not the later change we had sent. After settling in we head towards the Beach, about a 10 minute walk and find a place right by the River for lunch. the meal is slow coming but quite good and we enjoy a couple of Beer Larues while we wait. On to the beach which is pretty spectacular, sand about 100m wide and stretching right back around the coast to Da Nang which you can see in the distance with the mountains of Laos behind the city. Offshore are the Cham Islands, a great setting. Of course we are beset by beach sellers, "You buy from me" but they soon get the message and leave us alone.

Breakfast on the terrace
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Day 2 in Hoi An is bright and sunny and we enjoy our breakfast out on the terrace right beside the river and in a lovely garden setting of shrubs, trees, palms and orchids, truly a lovely spot to have breakfast. It is slowly dawning on us that there are very few guests about and after breakfast we ask at the desk and are told that there are only 4 (including us). We are staying in a 60+ room hotel, four floors, so you can imagine its a little eerie at night when the whole outside of the hotel is lit up but inside only two rooms are being used! The hotel building is quite elaborate in its facade and equally so in the reception and dining area.

wish we could stay longer

On the street , Hoi An
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The day beckons and we head into Hoi An to get reacquainted, book our planned trip to Cham Island and our cooking class at Red Bridge Restaurant which we mange to do successfully. We also find the tailors shop we used last time and Carol gets measured up for some clothes. Time for a coffee then a wander around the market area takingin the huge range of fresh produce, fish and meat which are all available. We have a look around the Ceramics Museum which is quite interesting then time for a beer, "Fresh" beer which is the local draught beer and is available for as little as 4000 dong a glass or about 40 cents Australian. The springs rolls we order are as usual good. All this takes place as we sit in the front of a one of the many small restaurants along the riverfront, where you can sit and relax and watch the rest of the world go by. The day goes by while we watch!

Creativity on the street
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Tuesday is beach day so after a leisurely breakfast on the terrace we head off down the road passing all the stalls and restaurants which line each side of the road as you reach the beach. We opt to hire lounges under an umbrella, 40,000 dong for the day and settle in (you can get cheaper if you bargain harder and go further down the beach, but what the heck, we are on holidays). The water is great and there is a small but choppy surf running so it is possible to body surf a wave or two. Table service is available on the beach so a cold beer is not a problem. It's a relaxing way to spend the day and despite the sunscreen we still get a little sunburnt but nothing of lobster proportions. Tea is the usual adventure along the street as we chose where to eat. We have decided to try them all over the week so even when one is disappointed we haven't chosen them we do promise to come back.

Chris making rice noodles
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Already our third day here and today is cooking day at Red Bridge, we are doing the full day course which includes learning to make rice noodles, claypot fish, steamed shrimp in banana leaf, beef pho and grilled chicken with banana blossom salad. We are the only starters for this option so head off to a nearby organic herb and vegetable garden which is quite interesting for the way they grow their produce. Then its down the road to the local market to pick up our cooking supplies and buy some Vietnamese cooking utensils/gadgets and on to our chef and class. We are greeted by our Chef for the day, Thai Ngoc, who turns out to be quite a character and regales us with tales of his family, an uncle who is a General in Hanoi, a younger brother who sold the motorbike Ngoc gave to him and others we can't relate without causing trouble! Typical chef we reckon, having one amongst our kids and we thoroughly enjoy his lesson and the time spent with him. He explains everything simply, makes us take a very active part and the dishes are all superb, even those we have done ourselves. By the time we have finished and eaten all the prepared dishes we could not eat another thing and infact we later skip tea. The day is capped off by a boat trip back to Hoi An. A marvellous day.

Indochine Hotel at night
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Thursday, a day of "excitement", guests at the Hotel today, we will have to share. It's a do nothing sort of day with nothing planned except picking up new clothes from the tailor, mooching around the Old Town looking for presents and collectibles and just generally relaxing. Having been here for a few days most of the street sellers know us by sight and just have a chat without being pushy about buying anything. The day soon passes by without too much effort on our part.

Cham Island is the agenda for Friday and right on time we are picked up from the hotel at 8am. Its a short drive to the boat that will take us to the Island. We are taking the slow boat so the trip is over an hour to the village on the Island. Our group is a diverse one with a couple of hungover young British lads, a Norwegian couple, a group of Chinese girls and three Russians who do their best the whole trip to ruin it for everyone else and we will leave that subject alone, most unpleasant for everybody else.

Cham Island
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The Island is relatively undeveloped and uncommercialised at present and the Vietnamese authorities appear to be making an effort to keep it that way with no go zones, tourist zones and the like. The whole group of islands are also a National Park. One thing we did discover is that the Islands are the source of swallow's nests which are exploited by the local inhabitants. After a walk through the rice paddies to a 200 year old Pagoda we visit the village and then its back on the boat and around the coast where we stop for some snorkelling on a small coral reef. Unfortunately visibility is poor so there is not a great deal to see but I did spot some nice patches of coral and couple of pretty fish. Off we go around the coast again to a small beach where we alight for lunch and another swim. Lunch is quite good apart from one course which is spahgetti with some sort of egg topping which we decide not to try. After lunch, a swim and snooze on the beach and its back on the boat, a long wait for the Russians ensues, even the crew get impatient with them, and then we head for the mainland. Generally its been another enjoyable day. For tea we head down to the beach to try another restaurant, on the way our friend at the first shop on the way accosts us and as usual asks us to buy. We tell her that we have walked by the last two days and she has missed us, without missing a beat she tells us "Sh*t happens"!!!!!! We totally crack up as does she and we promise to by something on the way back. She is certainly a character and has a whole line of sayings and knows when and how to use them. After tea we return and do buy a few small things from her. She is the only person in the whole street who has manged to make a sale to us, well done we say.

Champa sculpture
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Cham Island on friday and Champa Museum in Da Nang on Saturday, an 8am pickup again and we are on our way. It was the one place we regretted not seeing on our last visit and it is well worth seeing. The sculpture is most impressive and interesting, dating from roughly 600-800AD almost all stone carving although there is one bronze statue on display. According to our driver, a very quietly spoken gentleman the Museum is the only thing in Da nang worth visiting.  After a coffee at a place for the "in" crowd, quite an experience in itself, we head for Hai Van pass, the weather is pretty ordinary and we hope it will clear enough by the time we reach the pass which fortunately it does. When we get there it's clear enough for photos to the south but to the north it is decidedly dirty weather. We spot goats acting as sentinels in the old fortifications and after a few photographs head for Lang Co beach and the rain. On the way we have to stop for a goods train near the bottom of the pass. After lunch at a seaside resort where we manage to score a plate of BBQ pork, a special not on the menu we have a walk along the beach before beating a hasty retreat as the rain buckets down again. Heading for home we return via the tunnel which passes through the Hai Van mountain. It is about 6.5km long and is quite spectacular. Built with Japanese engineering it took 5 years to construct and is now the main road link between north and south. Motorcycles and fuel tankers are banned and must go via the pass.

Waiting for the train to pass
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Once we are back at the hotel its not long before its time to head into the Old Town for the Festival of the Moon which is held on the 14th day of the lunar cycle when the moon is full. September is an auspicious month in Vietnam with lots of weddings. We manage to get a front table in one of the river front cafes so we can have a ringside viewof the activities. All the restaurants fill up quickly. Once its dark the floats that have been placed on the river light up, a dragons, a fish and a turtle. Soon after floating candles are released on the river and its a highlight of our stay. All the locals come out and walk around the town, some carrying candle and lanterns, as well there are groups playing traditional music, people in traditional dress, dragon dances with lots of drumming and many shops have elaborate offerings of fruit, incense and twinkling lights. Its all very peaceful and our most enjoyable evening capped off by another excellent meal washed down with a bottle of the local red wine, Vang Dalat. It is a pity that we are off to Hanoi tomorrow we have really enjoyed our week in Hoi An and wish we could stay longer.