We followed a Google walking path through many alleys (amazing navigation) locate a laundry and ate breakfast in a Vietnamese street eatery by pointing at the food of the man next to us. I ate some great rice noodles and gave the meat to Dirk. 

The Crazy House was our next adventure. Built by a imaginative renowned architect, Dr. Dang Vietnam Nga who wished to encourage more nature-like buildings, it became her unusual home and project. We were there a few hours and still didn’t see all the rooms or walk on all the stairs. Fun!

We had a delicious lunch across the street and then walked to Bao Dai Summer Palace built in the 1930s for the last king of Vietnam feudal court. By the 1950’s, with the French in power, it was the office and house of the last King. It was a interesting walk-through – the house is quite large but not grand.

Lots of walking today but most of the time away from the heaviest traffic. We cheated and took a taxi back to our hotel and started preparing for tomorrow’s trip to Maui Ne.

On Thursday we had a 7 AM flight to the city of Dalat and went to check out in the lobby at around 5:30. We were surprised to find the lobby quite dark. I said a few words and a man jumped up from his cot over by the piano, moved quickly to the desk and turned on the lights. That’s a first! 

After arriving at the airport nearest to Dalat we quickly found a bus to take us the next 20 miles to Dalat – an hour trip! Why? -Up and down some curvy mountain roads (beautiful views) and traffic when close to Dalat. My impression of Dalat as a peaceful mountain town was changed pretty quickly. The town in densely packed with over 3,000 small hotels and numerous other lodgings with very little green space.

There is a small lake at the center of all of this which is quite lovely but the traffic!! Even more insane than we have experienced so far. The idea was to get a hotel close to the pretty lake but it turns out to be very noisy here what with contact beeping of traffic and Tet partying people chatting in the hallway at midnight!

OK – that’s the grumpy me, but salvation came from a great countryside tour yesterday run by Happy Day Travel.

Today we joined an van tour that I might have skipped in another area but we really wanted to get out of town and into the hills. After picking up everyone we headed south, happily out of the traffic of Dalat and did the following interesting, beautiful and relaxing things. It sounds like a lot but the trip lasted seven hours, we had a great guide and it was just what we needed.

• Visit coffee farm where weasel coffee is made ( and enjoy some)
• Visited a bee farm – enjoyed relearning about bee behaviors and tasting fresh honey
• Relaxed at the beautiful Pongour Waterfall
• Ate a family style Vietnamese lunch with everyone
• Enjoyed the beauty around the Goddess of Merci statue – The Linh An Pagoda
• Viewed the nearby Elephant Waterfull. 
• Took in a cricket farm on our way back to Dalat.
• Finally we had 45 minutes at Me Linh Coffee Gardens which is actually like an low-key adventure farm and photo opportunity besides offering coffee. There’s so much there we never had coffee.

Bees and then the waterfall

Lunch near the Goddess of Merci and Linh An Pagota grounds

More at pagoda then Elephant waterfall

Crickets, then Me Linh Coffee Gardens

It’s a slow rainy day in Danang but luckily the Museum of Cham Sculpture is not too far from us so that’s where we headed after breakfast. The museum contains the world’s largest collection of Cham artifacts. This includes two floors of sculptures, carvings and stonework unearthed from the 1700’s and as recently as this century. Photos of remaining ruins show impressive architectures.

Some history… Champa presence in this area evolved from seafaring Austronesian cultures off the coast of what is now Vietnam starting around 200 AD. The Cham people established and maintained a vast system of lucrative trade networks and cities/towns across Southeast Asia. They had a common language and heritage (DNA stuff) different from that of the Vietnamese. Pushed to the western areas of Vietnam by Vietnamese kingdoms starting in the 15th century, there are still some Cham speaking villages in western Vietnam. 

Some of the sculptures…

I took a few photos of the hotel – the lobby contains antiques, including an a Whippet, likely made around 1929. Ver unusual!

To prepare for air travel in a few days we have now moved a little north to the large city of Danang where we will spend two nights. The plan was to relax today and explore an attraction tomorrow – but rain is predicted for tomorrow so we did it all today.

Marble Mountain is an area of five karst mountains outside of Danang with the largest providing the most exploration opportunities. There hundreds of stone steps up to amazing views, caves, pagodas and temples. I like this phase in one write up “it is part historical treasure, part natural wonder and part spiritual (with both Hindu and Buddhist sites).”

We were smart and started our “climb” by taking the elevator! I guarantee that the elevator ride did not detract from the day’s exercise since there were many heights to reach via uneven stone steps during our time there. We followed the map as we climbed up to pagodas and views and both up and down into small and huge caves. When we met two men that are yoga teachers they challenged us to climb up to the highest peak – we may have skipped that one because we were already tired – but we did it! Great views too. Below are some of our photos.

After dark Dirk suggested we walk along the river to take picture of the lit up Dragon Bridge and huge Ferris wheel. We continued toward a brightly light square with crowds of people and found ourselves in the middle of a decorated river walk with flowers, lit up displays, flowering trees, tall painted posters, etc, where parents and young adults were busy taking pictures of each other in front of these decorations. The half mile area was packed with people moving in all directions – a happy, busy crowd. Note: In Vietnam it is the year of the Cat (in China it’s the year of the Rabbit).

I walked around the Hoi An celebration area this morning to take some daylight photos of some of the decorations. As a result I volunteered to take a number of family photos so the entire family could be in it. People are so happy when I offer; I could do it all morning. Since we are leaving tomorrow I wanted to remember the interesting street as well.

I’ve been looking forward to at least getting my feet wet in an ocean in Vietnam (which is the South China Sea) and today we decided to walk to the closest beach which is 3.2 miles away! We knew we could find a taxi on the way if needed but we walked the entire way, stopping now and then for the scenery, a water buffalo (see photo) and traffic. The beach is narrow but the ocean is lovely – many waves and I had a nice walk in the water.

We walked along a path with a number of restaurants and chose one that focused on vegan/vegetarian food. Unfortunately being New Years Day they were short staffed and it took forever to get our simple orders – oh well. We finally ate and then took a taxi back to our hotel – 3 miles walking was enough today.

We relaxed around our hotel area the rest of the afternoon and chatted with some other guests. Lastly we ate dinner at our favorite outdoor restaurant – and tried something new again – pork or fish or tofu in clay pots. Yum.

Today is New Year’s Eve -Tet in Vietnam – which is more of a family holiday here – no grand fireworks as far as we know. We spent a couple hours to decide where our next journeys would take us and made reservations.

What’s next? Dirk agreed to another new activity – learning how to make silk lanterns. The Pho Hoi Lantern Workshop is a family business and was recommended by a woman we met in Hui. They are very good at what they do, and very precise, and wanted us to learn how to make a quality item.

We first learned how to make the frame for the lantern. After that we switched to a larger frame to learn how to apply stretched silk to the frame. I made a large and a small patterned silk lantern while Dirk decided to make a plain one and then paint his own decorations with memories of some of our adventures! It took a while and is a little tricky but we are impressed with the results.

Thinking we’d grab a taxi when we got tired we started walking back but after about 4-5 block came upon a giant produce market. So many vegetables, and people and motorbikes! There were many items I couldn’t recognize nor ask about them because of the language. The produce market ended up on a long wharf area filled with tourists and boats ready for them where we stopped for a late lunch.

In the evening we wandered out to the “happening” spots but saw no new New Years activities other than many more people on the street. We ate something different (!) at our favorite little restaurant, enjoyed talking to another “regular” and thus ends Vietnamese New Year (Tet) for us.

Today we did something very unique for us – a bicycle tour!  I really wanted to enjoy the countryside vs busy town, some guests suggested this tour and Dirk agreed to it!

We booked it after breakfast and made haste to grab what we needed and get a taxi to the location with the bikes. I guess we started around 10am and 5 hours later were ready for a rest! This tour from Buffalo Adventures is called “Countryside and Island Discovery”. We biked carefully on a few busy streets until our guide took us down roads with less traffic, farm paths, bridges and even a few dirt roads. 

Besides the scenic biking we also stopped to see a rice wine making enterprise (we had a few sips of strong wine), how Vietnamese sleeping mats are made (and tried it myself) and how to make rice noodle wraps (we both did that and they are so tasty!)

I mentioned mats…”Vietnamese sleeping mats are made with reeds which are grown in the family’s land and then dried in the sunshine and dyed various colors. The reeds are then intricately woven. “ Hoc told us that many people in the island community still make these. They collect the reeds and dry them in the house rafters and work on them in the off season. They are used instead of mattresses by the locals.

Making rice noodles starts with streaming rice batter to make a solid wrap. That is then used for various rice dishes. Our efforts were both rewarding and delicious. I want to try it at home!!

After breakfast and packing I walked over the Perfume River on the long bridge featured in one of yesterday’s night photos. It was very busy with motorbikes but there is separate pedestrian walkway – also used by motorbikes!! But I enjoyed the walk, took photos for couples and had one taken of me and then enjoyed the views of the vegetable and flower market.

After returning to the hotel we checked out and took a taxi to the bus stop (not station – just a open area). It turns out our “bus” was an 11 seater van. It was comfortable enough for the almost 3 hour ride south and there was some great scenery along the way.

Our Hoi An hotel, the Vinh Hung River Resort, turns out to be quite nice with lovely grounds, a large pool and it’s right on the river. (I just took a picture from where I’m sitting.) They offer free appetizers at 4pm and a free boat ride on river for new guests. A nice welcome!

After all that welcoming we rested a bit and then headed toward Old Town to look around – we didn’t get that far. We found a spectacle on our way!! I wasn’t prepared for the 4 blocks of vendors selling souvenirs, encouraging you to get a massage or to eat in the restaurant. There’s a large pond and row boats for rides, and many colorful decorations.

We ate some yummy spring rolls and wandered around a bit and came upon a News Years stage show with singing and dancing! Lovely costumes, colors and the lions were great!

That was quite a first day in Hoi An!

Rainy day today – very wet. After breakfast we collected clothes to be washed and I walked 15 minutes in the rain to drop them off at a local laundry. While I was out and getting wet anyway I checked out some other areas, bought a few supplies and enjoyed the varied character on the different streets.

We delayed lunch until the rain slowed down and I searched Google Maps for restaurants near me; one of the closest was Nina’s Cafe. It was somewhat hidden in a narrow street but they had signs pointing the way. We noticed after a while that the customers were all tourists and wondered how everyone had happened upon it and then found out it’s in our travel guide! Anyway – great meal. We chatted with a women from Alaska (near Fairbanks) who recommended an activity in Hoi An – our next stop – that teaches you how to make silk lanterns.

I was able to pick up the laundry around 5 (still raining!) and now it was busier on the streets. Note the rainware of the the motorcycles and scooters! When back at the hotel and unpacking it was obvious we were going to be smelling a little too good for a while – perfumed dryer sheets I guess.

We asked for a dinner recommendation from the front desk and they suggested Madam Thu’s which also turned out to be mostly frequented tourists – and also in the Lonely Planet guide. But no complaints – we enjoyed delicious Vietnamese food and it’s nice when there’s a menu you can read! (It’s in Vietnamese and English)

It turned out that the long street just before our destination is the place to be for the young Vietnamese. There was one packed open restaurant after another along with the music and noise that goes along with crowds. It looked like a fun place to be. The motorcycle/scooter parking was interesting too – a few young men were charging for managing the parking situation.