Holiday in Vietnam - Hoi An

The big adventure of this small holiday was a bicycle tour that Ange organised.  It was a pretty adventurous thing for her to have done - I think I last rode a bike with her in 1999 - and she fell off.  Not her preferred form of transport.  Then there was Ev's cycling - shall we say a provisional skill - quite a bit more heart than ability - and then of course there was the heat.  This is the offices of the Heaven and Earth Bicycle Tour Company, before we started.  Ev's expression and colour says it all.

The first part of the tour is a very short ride to a pier on the Thu Bon River.  Hoi An is FANTASTIC - honestly delightful - we will definitely go back again.  The whole of the old town is a UNESCO world heritage site - and the town is described in Wp as "an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century".  So it is also really old.  Where the rest of Vietnam has a zillion motorcycles - a huge percentage of people in Hoi An still ride bicycles.  The Thu Bon River is the waterway that made the place a trading port to begin with.  The ride itself was on one of the islands in the estuary mouth - the boat ride to get there took 45 minutes.  There was a wonderful breeze out on the water - and it felt like 20 degrees cooler.

While much of Vietnam is as you see it in the movies - green treeland - the island, much like the coastal strip at Da Nang was much drier and sandy.  The villages we rode through were quaint and slow, as everything absolutely roiled in the heat.  There's a photo of it later, along with the two above - but our guides were amazing - two young women - both of them wearing jeans, long hoodie type tops and gloves.  It absolutely defied belief - I half expected one of them to drop dead.  They didn't even sweat (!?!).  How does that work?

A much needed water break on one of the island roads.  Evan was mildly terrifying - I spent the day herding him on his bicycle.  He managed to half fall off a couple of times (on one occasion onto a fresh looking grave ;-) which made me giggle.  He also took an absolute shine to Flower - one of our guides - and hit an absolute chat-attack - which was engrossing for him - and definitely detracted at times from his two wheeled abilities.

Cycling through beautiful farms,  field and rice paddy all round - the ones on each side here growing sweet potatoes. 

Towards the late afternoon Flower and Gin suggested parking the bikes and going down to one of the beaches for a swim.  Everyone was keen.  I love this picture - Ev, deep in his infatuation, glued to Flower - Flower dressed for a Moscow winter - whaaaat?  Take a look at Ev's shirt in the two pics above as a comparison.  I was wet through and smelled BAD.

The beach was sort of lovely - though as it turns out the very hub of the Islands fishing industry.  The round thing behind Aiden is essentially a very large salad-bowl shaped woven basket, which is then painted on the outside with tar to make it waterproof.  The weave and materials are heavy - they are super-sturdy - but with the aquadynamics of a brick.  There were a few of the banana shaped boats in the left background too - also made of tar painted wicker.  The sea was clear, which was good, because you could also see that it was absolutely heaving with jellyfish of all sizes and colours.  Flower and Gin thought that perhaps swimming wasn't a good idea after all.  We were no longer considering it; but did get a cool family pic with at least half of Ange's face in it.

I reciprocated - so here are Flower and Gin in their winter woolies.

Walking back to the bikes for the next leg - gives you a good idea of the sort of villages dotted the whole place. Vietnam, like the rest of Asia is pretty densely populated - 90 million people in a sliver of a land.  What I liked most about this experience was the opportunity to interact with regular people's lives.

A rare rare pic of Angela on a bike - her smile (she says) was more one of absolute relief than anything else; I think at herself making it, and for all of us in Evan's doing likewise. About a hundred meters up the road, Ev managed to miss a concrete pillar of the sort visible between him and Flower.  He missed it by no more than a micro-nanometer - how he did it I just don't know. I was watching the event in horrified slow motion, and I thought he was going to middle it perfectly.  Then he was passed (though admittedly wide eyed).

The bikes head back onto the boat in lovely afternoon light; a fraction of the edge starting to come off the heat.

The boat dude let Evan drive - as you do - a massive public boat on a busy waterway.  No unnecessary rules here.

Plenty of action happening on the river on the way back...

...one of the boats running back to the city from the bigger estuary islands.

Back in the late afternoon streets of Hoi An - superlovely vibe, lots of friendly slow bustle; Aiden trying a bit of experimental cycling - all a parent wants - a good old crash in the last half kilometer.

Back at Heaven and Earth - managed to get the boys to do a jump for joy picture; everyone knackered, sore bums, dreadful sticky mix of sunblock and sweat - and damn hungry.

Aiden sorts that out by consulting the menu-board at the nearby Dingo Deli. A beer, a couple of hands of rummy - cracking day and a great way to round off the trip.