Hoi An, Vietnam

Day 44-46, August 29-31, 2008 (No Malaria)

Lest ye think that I didn't enjoy Vietnam, let me continue with my visit. To me, there is Saigon and there is the rest of Vietnam.

From Saigon, I decided to take the overland route to Hoi An in central Vietnam. Everyone that I’ve talked to on the trip or has been here previously has really like Hoi An. Also, pretty much universally, people seem to like Vietnam more after they leave Saigon. I was no exception.

I took the overnight train from Saigon to Danang, near Hoi An. The train left Saigon at 11:00 PM and arrived to Danang at 1:00 the next afternoon. That sounds like a long time in a train but, to be honest, the downtime was very welcome. For 15 hours, I had nothing else on Earth to do except for sleep, relax in a moderately comfortable bunk, read, look out the window and watch a few movies that I have been buying for a dollar each on my computer. I recommend Iron Man and could have done without Cloverfield.

When I got on the train in Saigon, there was a guy in my sleeper car who was setting up a ton of computer equipment. It turns out that he worked for the railway and the computer equipment was all used to measure the vibrations of the train for quality control. I have to imagine that this is the only quality control department in the entire country. It took a while, with the language barrier, to figure out what he was doing but I didn’t really care because he was using his employee pass to buy me beers. I can put up with a lot of computers and wires for some free beer.

My computer friend got off of the train at around 9:00 AM and a family with a little baby took his spot. The baby was hilarious. I don’t think that it had ever seen a white person before because it couldn’t stop staring at me alternating between curiosity and terror. The terror part I understand. I’ve looked in a mirror recently. After a while, it got used to me and the parents wanted to take several pictures of me holding the baby. I don’t think that they’ve seen very many white people either. At first, when the mother handed me the kid, I was worried that I’d somehow just agreed to adopt. That would be my luck. Get on a train in Vietnam: single and happy….get off a train in Vietnam: parent to a kid that never stops staring at me.

I met some Kiwis on the train that I ended up hanging out with for the rest of the day in Hoi An. We shared a cab to there from Danang along with a couple of Aussies that had lost their luggage somewhere between Melbourne and Hoi An. The better half of the Kiwi couple works for Eli Lilly in New Zealand. Maybe I should try to have her find me a job. New Zealand for a few years…I could handle that. It’s about a 30 minute drive between the two cities. Danang was a big US base during the Vietnam War and the rusting airplane hangers of the base are still visible off of the main road. Also, along this stretch of road is China Beach where the US GI’s used to try and take some R&R.

Hoi An is a sleepy little fishing village with miles of beautiful beach, an artist community and, much like Chang Mai in Thailand, a stop for every backpacker in SE Asia. I actually ran into two girls at my hotel that stayed at the same hotel as me in Chang Mai. I didn’t really do much in Hoi An except for explore the town a little bit and relax on the beach. I wish that I had some funny stories from here but it was really just a nice, relaxing few days. I did get nice and drunk one night with the Kiwi couple. It’s really amazing how half-way around the world, I automatically resume my traditional role as third-wheel. At least these two weren’t on a honeymoon like the last vacation I crashed. Bob and Nicole can tell you, though, that I add a lot to any honeymoon. If anyone else needs me to chaperone theirs or any other romantic vacation I have no business being on, let me know.