Meeting the Locals

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006--Hoi An (Continued)

As soon as the sun was hidden behing a cloud bank in the west, I went out for the evening. That was about 5:30. I walked up and down the streets taking some photos of the more interesting buildings until it got too dark. All along the way, shopkeepers were getting ready for the evening's celebrations. Mainly they were hanging lanterns and setting up small shrines with insense and food offerings in front.

When it finally got dark, the city was beautiful. Most of the shop owners kept their interior lighting to a low level except when customers entered. So it was much like traveling back in time to walk down the dark streets with only the light of the golden, red, green, etc., lanterns. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. And it makes such a difference to have the streets blocked to bicycle and motorcycle traffic.

Stages were set up in various locations. A couple were on vacant lots. One was at a triangular corner that normally serves as outdoor seating for a restaurant. The most unique was on an old boat in the river. From 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., entertainers performed on each of these stages with local music and playing native instruments. One stage, however, was for the young people to demonstrate their martial arts expertise. Also in the river were huge floating plastic sculptures that were lighted--a turtle, a dragon, etc. People were crusing back and forth on the river in dug0ut canoes, and there were floating paper baskets containing lighted candles floating along among them.

As I was walking along the riverfront, a young man and a boy were sitting on a bench and invited me to join them. The little boy was precious. Named Sien, he looked to be about 6, but I later learned he is 8. He was so excited about the evening and was running back and forth from one thing that excited him near the bench to another. He especially liked the floating candle lanterns in the river. As the night progressed, I stayed with these two people and met more of their family. I learned that the young man was 25 and named Tien. He is a carpenter building homes. He spoke very little English. It was his sister, Thieu, who came and joined us who explained everything. The little boy was not Tien's son; he is his nephew. Tien takes care of Sien during the evenings while the women (his two sisters and his mother) run a sidewalk restaurant. The father died about 4 years ago at the age of 58. I imagine they live in rather dire straights without the father's income. Thieu told me that she was the only one who was given an education and that she would have continued in school to become an English teacher if her father hadn't died.

Tien, Sien, and I walked around the town seeing the lights and taking some photos. Sien would hold onto my arm during the process except when he would flutter away to see something close that had excited him. He has very active facial expressions and is obviously excited about life. He's really an 8-year-old social butterfly. Tien was also very mindful about taking care of me as we walked; he would grab my hand and make sure I was safe in instances such as awkward steps we passed on a rather decrepid pedestrian bridge that crossed the river.

We went to the restaurant and I ate a dessert the mother makes. It was a custard made of egg and soy with a syrupy topping. It was good--a Vietnamese version of flan.

Later, we returned to the bench and sat and visited until everything came to a close around 9:45. Sien got Tien to reach down to the water level of the river and pick up one of the floating candles and set it on the sidewalk in front of us. He sat in my lap, Tien sat beside me, and Thieu sat on the other side of her brother. They made me promise that I would return to the restaurant on Thursday which I plan to do. I promised them also that I would send them copies of the photos we took when I get home.

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006--Hoi An

It's another hot day. The sun burns so hot on the skin that it is like being unprotected at a white sandy beach. I really cannot enjoy being outside for long. I walked into the city and quickly decided to come to the cyber cafe. Later, I will go to have lunch. Then I will spend the afternoon in the hotel room. I'll go back and have dinner at the sidewalk restaurant of the family I met after it gets dark tonight.

I had the hotel reserve me a seat on a tour to My Son tomorrow. It's an old cham religious site in the moutains. I had a choice of leaving at 5 a.m. and seeing the sunrise over the ruins or leaving at 8, and I chose to take the later departure. Then I had a choice of coming back via the bus or on a boat in the river. I chose the bus. The river return would include having lunch on the boat. I've gotten into those hassles before where it takes them forever to catch the fish and cook it. Then there is no set price and everyone feels trapped into paying too much for the meal. Then they want tips on top of all of that. And all of that would be on a boat in the hot sunshine! I would rather come back on an a/c bus and find a lunch on my own somewhere.

I also had the hotel reserve me a bus seat to leave Hoi An. My next stop will be Nha Trang, a beach resort. I'm not really that excited about going to a beach resort, but I still have lots of time here and will run out of places to visit if I pass up the stops tourists usually make. I'll decide when I get there how long I want to stay. But I was disappointed to find that the day bus trip to there isn't operating right now. I must go by overnight bus. That should prove to be a rather miserable experience! Anyway, since I have to go at night, I decided to go tomorrow night. I'll be in My Son until 1 p.m., have the afternoon (without the benefit of my air conditioned room) here in town, and depart at 8 p.m. for Nha Trang. I'll probably be back here at the cyber cafe writing all about it during those afternoon hours.