Skip to main content

Bikes and beaches

Yesterday it was planes, trains and automobiles. Today it was bicycles.

I would like to say that I slept in, but Alex awoke far too early for that. When B eventually woke we had a Western/Vietnamese buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then we decided to do something we haven't done in a decade or more; ride a bike.


Alex wasn't forgotten as the free hotel bikes have rear seats suitable for his age or older. No helmets, no gears, though I doubt that these bikes were capable of excessive speed or need to climb in this environment.
Whilst the centre of Hoi An's old town is motorised vehicle free the surrounding streets have plenty of scooters and the odd truck or taxi. And the drive on the opposite side of the road to Australia.

That said, the drivers around here tend not to speed and are pretty forgiving of other traffic. The use their horns frequently to warn other vehicles that they want to overtake.


We started with a ride back around the old town before setting off on real roads towards the beach, four kilometres away, breathing in the fumes of the other traffic. It was okay while we were at speed, but once stopped the humidity really hit. Eventually we left the built up area and entered a bucolic river scene where fishermen in tiny wooden boats punted silently along the brown river. Buffaloes snoozed in the rice paddy fields, their muscular service unrequired this day.


One final push up a small hill and over a narrow bridge, then we entered the beach area. We were told (whether this is true or just a money making venture) to leave the bikes for a fee in a bike/scooter parking lot and walk to the beach.

The palm lined beach was pleasant but unspectacular. While Alex collected shells we sat and rested after our ride. One older lady tout struck up a conversation with us and we eventually bought some small fridge magnets. B and Alex fought over fresh coconut juice while I watched stupid Europeans swim in a no swimming area.



B decided to buy some clothes from one of the shops. They agreed to deliver the altered clothes to our hotel that night. Then it was time to reverse our trip and return the bikes to the hotel.

The return journey seemed to pass a lot faster, but we were absolutely knackered by the time we got back to the hotel. 

We had lunch opposite the hotel at the White Lotus restaurant, which supports the Project Indochina charity. The banh xeo pancakes differed from the Sydney versions in being wrapped in rice paper, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed eating the thick paper.


Late in the afternoon, after a nap, we thought we'd see some of the tourist sites. Along the way it rained a little, but that quickly passed. We only managed a couple of sites. The dark interior architecture of the Tran Family Chapel was an interesting blend of Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese influences, but the guide was more interested in getting us to buy things. There were no guides at the Japanese Covered Bridge, but the crowds took away much of the atmosphere. The Cantonese Assembly Hall was full of garish decoration, but B was a bit freaked out by the funeral proceedings to one side.









Nevertheless it was fun to walk the length of the old town. We bought a floating candle lantern for Alex but it refused to sail out into the river proper. We had to hurry back to collect the clothes delivered from the beach, but they came a bit early and we missed them. Then we returned to the old town for dinner.






Vietnam manufactures many of the backpacks available in the rest of the world, but they are almost of branded "North Face" here and there's not much choice or quality.


We ate another wonderful dinner by the river, with Alex loving the egg on pancakes.



As we walked back in the lantern lit darkness we stopped for scoops of ice cream, including the delicious lemongrass flavour. The markets were closing and it was time to get some rest before tomorrow's early flights. Unfortunately, the internet refused to work in the hotel, so I couldn't check in online.






Sad to be leaving Hoi An. With its blend of so many cultures, a relaxed feel and great food it was a wonderful introduction to Vietnam.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An

The easy way to get to Hoi An from Ho Chi Minh City is to fly to Danang then go via car for the final leg. Then there's my way. We had to wake at 5.30 am to get ready for a 6.15 departure from the hotel. A hotel car took us the few kilometres to the domestic terminal at the airport, where we checked into our Vietnam Airlines flight to the central Vietnam city of Hue. The airport was nothing flash, but it seemed functional. Alex had sandwiches (refused banh mi) for breakfast, then we went to the gate. Our blue Airbus A321 was parked at a remote stand, which necessitated a packed shuttle bus ride. It was nice to be aboard a full service airline again, even if the service was just a cup of water. We took off over the hazy skies of Ho Chi Minh City and for most of the smooth flight were cruising over a carpet of cloud. We descended over mountains poking their heads through the cloud, across lakes and paddy fields and over the beach. It was lovely scenery.

The Carlingford Line

We close the year and the decade with a local adventure to mark the closure of a railway line. On the January 5, 2020, the Carlingford Line from Clyde will close to be partially replaced by the Parramatta Light Rail. This is Sydney's quietest line, a single track branch for most of its length from the industrial centre of Clyde to the northwestern suburb of Carlingford. According to Wikipedia, power supply and signalling issues mean that only a single four car train can utilise the line at a time. Newer Sydney trains run in fixed eight car configurations. This will be the first and last time I traverse the Carlingford Line in its current configuration. The weather of the day is certainly appropriate for an ending, the brown smoke haze lending an apocalyptic air to proceedings. I drive to Padstow and catch the T8 line to Central, followed by the T1 towards Parramatta and Penrith. The historic homes of the Inner West give way to industrial complexes, rail storage yards and t

A lazy day at the beach

It's 2am and somebody is still setting fireworks off on the beach in front of the hotel. I can't see the explosions as I have the window shuttered, but I can still hear them. I've wanted to have a lazy day and today was the closest I got. I woke up in the night from a very sad dream. Dreams follow crazy paths, but this one resolved itself as so. An entity had been causing disruption of computer systems around the world. It turned out that this entity had emerged from the computer networks and had been struggling to gain access to more computing power so that it could live. The entity had taken on the persona of a woman. The protagonist who had "defeated" the entity discovered that it was alive, spoke to it. Ultimately fell in love with her. But his prior actions would lead to its death. As a gift to her he downloaded his memories so that she could experience life even as she died. I know it sounds like a pulpy sf or technopunk plot, but dreams are about feelings,