Hue to Hoi An

On Monday morning we left Hue for a little road trip to Hoi An.

Remember Crazy SD Card Lady (heretofore CSDCL)? She came back to haunt me. I have been using my backup card ever since she killed my main card. Now my back up failed and has retained only has the last handful of pictures that I have taken. I do have full size backups on an iPad and compressed images up with my friend Mr. Google. I just swapped the flakey card with the one in Tara's camera as hers is the second backup. This is not on a good trajectory. We will try to buy another card tomorrow. 

Along the way we stopped on Hai Van Pass which divides the climates of North and South Vietnam and has been of strategic Military significance for two millennia including this bunker from the American war. (Courtesy of wiki images and thanks to CSDCL).

As we were climbing Hai Van Pass I pointed out to the kids a bunch of goats eating near the side of the road at the apex of a sharp turn. The driver said they eat watermelon to which I responded with an inquiry about the watermelon patches up on the pass. He said no patches, they eat what has fallen off the truck. Ha.

We drove a few kilometers further south and the kids and I went for a dip at China Beach, right across from what once was the American Air Force Base. Here is my parting shot, but gone are the prior ones of the kids playing in the water (CSDCL has been here). The surf was high and apparently it was a no swim zone, but the lady who rented us an umbrella said yes you can swim, but only between the 'No Swiming' signs not behind them. That was pretty funny but seemed consistent with the sign. We stayed near shore and played for only 30 minutes. Yes, I put sunblock on my head, which is still molting, but nowhere else. Now my shoulders are a little red after a half hour, what is going on??

Next stop, Marble Mountains between Da Nang and Hoi An, where we climbed up to a spectacular setting for a Buddhist worship site. There are a number caves in this rock outcrop that have been used over time to house a few of the gods of Buddhism.

There are many places of worship in Vietnam and most of the historical sites in Vietnam are Confucianist or Buddhist places of worship. Nearly everywhere you can smell incense sticks burning and see alters to the dead and at times the burning of offerings for them. A follower of Christ feels a little bit like the apostle Paul in Athens when walking these streets and sites. There is no Areopagus here, just some discussions from time to time.

I had some good conversation with our guide to the tombs the other day. He said as a Buddhist he must be good in this life to ensure he has a good next life. As a Buddhist he believes that the worst of hell is on this earth due to our various passions, and whatever hell there is in the afterlife he can work himself out of. I shared with him the words of Jesus about how we cannot make ourselves right before God, but that only God can bring us into heaven through Christ Jesus. If we try to do even one good thing towards earning heaven then we must do everything to make ourselves right before God. That is a teaching he had not heard before.

At the base of Marble Mountains are stone carvers producing all sort of carving, some for worship, others for art, and still others for Riley.  Riley was trying to find a carved elephant as a friend for the carved turtle that she picked up in Sa Pa. She drives a hard bargain, but not as hard as the local shop staffers. The shop where our driver pulled into was a hard sell, mega markup. Riley wasted about 15 minutes of their time before finally walking out. I don't think they cared about losing the $10 sale to the kid when the parents were not even browsing.

We moved a few doors down and walked into a shop and immediately this lady said she was glad we left the big store and came to the local business instead. I acknowledged and said we were glad to be there. She hung around us the whole time, which is not unusual. What surprised us was when we started to leave, she said "Now you come to my shop and buy from me." Talk about cutthroat, standing, even stalking, in your competitions shop trying to poach business.

I did some shopping of my own and scored this tasty treat. Sesame seeds and peanuts adhesed with honey to a big crunchy fried cracker thing. Very nice.

We continued on to Hoi An and settled into our hotel called Vaia Boutique. Sounds pretty fancy doesn't it. Well, it was until Patti began hanging her laundry to dry out our window in the front of the hotel.

All pics in the Hue to Hoi An album linked at right.