Hoi An, Vietnam, Asia

We got up this morning and had a nice breakfast at our hotel. They made us omelet’s and served them with a nice French baguette. I guess the French influence hasn’t been completely lost in Vietnam. We walked up to the War Remnants Museum and got there for about 9am. It only cost 15,000 dong ($0.75) to get in, and it was the most interesting museum I’ve been in on this trip. We obviously learn about the Vietnam War in school in America, but it was amazing to see it from another perspective. The images of torture and effects of Agent Orange are going to stick with me for a while, they were just horrific.

We saw Tiger Cages, instruments of torture, planes, war vehicles, ammo, guns and lots of pictures taken during the war. It was a very impressive collection to see, and while the content wasn’t pleasant, I’m really glad I got to see it. I learned a lot about the war and America’s involvement in it that I didn’t know before. We had to get back to the hotel by 12pm to get a taxi to the airport, so we actually had to skip the last part of the museum, we just didn’t have enough time. It figures, I normally can’t get out of a museum fast enough when I have plenty of time, but this time I needed more time inside and just didn’t have it.

We got back to the hotel and had a taxi waiting to bring us to the airport. I give them a lot of credit because there is no way I would be able to drive a car through all that madness. It was mental. He got us there safely though, and we got ourselves checked in and through security in plenty of time. I love flying through Asian airports, it’s so easy! We had a decent one hour flight up to Da Nang and met a nice German couple (Connie and Vassy) when we got to baggage claim. They were also coming to Hoi An so we all shared a taxi for the one hour ride and it came to $5 each. I don’t think you’d find a taxi in Boston that would take you an hour away for $20.

Connie and Vassy hadn’t booked a hotel in Hoi An so they checked out the Phuong Nam Hotel where Dad and I had booked and they decided to stay. Much like all our other hotels, it was $8 per person for a room with A/C, TV, private bath and wifi, but this one has a pool as well. What a deal! It was about 4pm by the time we checked in so we wanted to get out into Hoi An town center as soon as possible to see it during the daytime. The hotel offers a free shuttle bus into town, so we hopped on that and were dropped off right in the center.

We checked out the one “tourist attraction” we were told about in the city, the Japanese Bridge. It wasn’t very nice. It looked really old, but we don’t know the story behind it, so maybe that makes it more interesting. The four of us walked around the town for a little while and it is a nice looking town. It’s right on the Hoi An River and some of the place by the river looked really nice. They are all lit up very nicely and it looks like a nice quaint place to relax for a couple of days. We had a nice dinner at a place right next to the river where a full meal of Vietnamese chicken curry cost $3.00, and drinks were $0.75. Not bad for a riverside restaurant.

After dinner, Connie and Vassy left us to go shopping and Dad and I tried to get some nice night pictures by the river. Of course the weather didn’t want to help with our venture and it rained the whole time. We tried to get some pictures anyway, but after about an hour the rain just got too much for us and we headed back to the shuttle drop off to get a ride to the hotel. We got a lift back to the hotel and the rain is just not going to let up, so we’re going to relax here for the night. It’s only 9pm, but tomorrow we’re getting a bus up to Hue so hopefully in the morning the weather will be nice enough for us to use the pool. It’s a shame we have to leave Hoi An so soon, but we are on a tight schedule!