The restorative properties of a hot bath and a simple meal in the hotel are amazing. Having initially given up the idea of going out yesterday evening, I changed my mind and walked around the town before going to bed. There's always a conflict between getting the experiences and writing about them before the details fade. I've uploaded Saturday's pictures but here's just a short version of "What Jan did".
Events of Saturday, 2nd February 2013
My guide Than and I started at 8.00 a.m. with a walking tour of Hoi An. It's a charming place and World Heritage 'inscribed' (the posh folks at UNESCO don't just 'list' these places). I hadn't realised quite how dedicated to tourism the east coast of Vietnam had become - it's not to far from both Japan and Australia - but I still enjoyed my brief visit. Our walking tour was finished by 10.0 o'clock in the morning and then we set off by car along the coast road re-tracing our route back to Da Nang.
The caves at Marble Mountain.
On the way, we stopped at Marble Mountain, a massive outcrop of rock rearing up from the plain. An elevator lifted us up the mountain to a series of paths connecting various religious monuments and a large cave system (which rather reminded me of Batu Caves in Malaysia - my pictures of Batu Caves are here). As the name suggests, marble is extracted from the mountain and, at the base of the mountain, there are a number of marble carving workshops and showrooms.
I saw a little more of the modern city of Da Nang where two large road bridges are under construction both, I believe, by American architects. I found the cable-stayed bridge impressive but the other, supported by a series of bright yellow arches each made from a cluster of five tubes and dubbed 'the Dragon River Bridge', I thought ugly. We visited the interesting museum of Cham temple stone carving.
Then, we took the road over the mountains towards Hue. There is now a road tunnel which by-passes the mountain road but the views from the mountain road are stunning. Lorries carrying livestock or tankers of petrol still must use the mountain road. We stopped at a coffee shop commanding impressive views of the sea both looking south and looking north. Of course, Than knew the family who run the place. They were having a sort of informal lunch party to celebrate the New Year and insisted I join in the alfresco meal. They were so kind, I was sorry when we set off again.
Jan joins the family who run the mountain coffee shop in a celebratory lunch.
We were close to the single-line railway for a lot of the time, so I was trying to study that. I got a few 'drive by' shots on the way but couldn't do more until the evening.
I stayed at the Hotel Saigon Morin in Hue. It was opened in 1901 so, as you can guess, it's my kind of place.
I had a simple meal in the hotel and then went out on foot, eventually ending up at the railway station. I'd been advised that I should be able to purchase a platform ticket to look around the station but nobody seemed to understand the concept and they keep passengers in the waiting room until there's a train to board.To understand the signalling and control, I explored the streets at both ends of the station to try and get near the railway. By the time I'd done that, I was quite exhausted so I returned to the hotel on a motor bike taxi, which was actually very comfortable and great fun.
Provided we don't suffer any more technical setbacks, I'll tell you more when I can.
Photographs
Hoi An.
Marble Mountain, Da Nang
Around Da Nang.
Over the Mountains to Hu
Railways in Vietnam.
Hotel Saigon Morin in Hue.
[Revised 25-Feb-2013]
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Exploring Hoi An and to Hue by Road
