Chúc Mừng Nǎm Mới!

Just in case you need to greet any Vietnamese people in the next few days (though, of course, their New Year- Tet, based on the lunar calendar - is in early February), this is the Vietnamese for Happy New Year - which we wish you all.   Oh, and Andy's just pointed out that today is 1/1/11, hopefully an auspicious number for us all.

We've had a great second week here in Hoi An, once we got over the disappointment of not having Cynthia or Jo with us.   On 23 December, we checked into the hotel which Intrepid Travel had booked us into back in October, and were greeted like long lost friends by the Reception staff.   These must be amongst the most friendly and fun-loving staff in any hotel anywhere - and that's really saying something:  almost all of the hotel staff we've met in Vietnam are incredibly friendly and helpful as a matter of course.   Here, though, we were presented with a huge bouquet of yellow lilies and a bowl of fruit as a welcome gift, and just about all of the 6 or 7 girls on the desk came out from behind it to shake our hands or hug us.   Actually, hugging, or putting an arm around our waists, or their arm through ours, seems to be a typical Vietnamese greetings custom.   The woman we rent our bikes from does it, the wheelchair-bound man who sells us an English language newspaper each day does it, traders in the clothing and shoe shops we've usd do it, teenagers and children we meet in the street will often do it, even young teenage boys will put their arm around Andy by way of greeting as we pass in the street.   At first we were rather suspicious of this behaviour from strangers, assuming that it was perhaps the distraction ploy of a pickpocket.   But we were completely wrong on that one, and we've started to get used to this very physical form of greeting from all kinds of people, even though it can be a bit overwhelming at times.   The other thing they love to do over here is to josh with their customers and clients.   For example, each day we put our laptop and valuables into the hotel's safe in the lobby downstairs and very often when we ask for it back when we return to our room, the girls will say something like 'No, sorry, I've sold it - but I got a good price for it.', or 'Oh, I thought you wanted me to put it in the laundry: it's too late to stop it now', or 'You can only have it when I've finished my computer games', before breaking out into giggles and fetching it out of the safe for us.

These same hotel staff hosted a really delightful party for the hotel's guests for the early part of Christmas Eve evening.   There were balloons, a Christmas tree, and decorations all over the restaurant;  all the staff were dressed in Santa outfits, and they started the evening, after we'd been given loads of local traditional cakes and soft drinks, by singing several Christmas songs which they'd taken the trouble to learn in English, and which we were invited to join in.   Then there were silly games, dancing and a raffle - in which Andy managed to win two lovely red Vietnamese/Chinese silk lanterns. And then there were cocktails.........!

On Christmas Day, we and nephew Dominic spent the morning lounging on the beach and swimming in the South China Sea (sorry, just had to say that!), before Andy and I met up with Cynth's son John and his girlfriend Liz for a superb sea-food meal overlooking the delightful river-front, before going on for a cocktail or two at a local bar where we met up with some of John and Liz's friends.   A lovely, relaxed Christmas Day.

However many times we wander up and down the riverside, and indeed the back streets of Hoi An, we're completely blown away by its charm.   I've described it before as a Vietnamese Venice - loads of lovely old buildings, many dating from the 11th-15th Century and the Chinese and Japanese rules, and many from the French colonial days, most of them festooned with silk and paper lanterns.   The colours of the walls and shutters are great, too: lots of ochre yellows, brick reds, burnt umbers, cobalt blue, aquamarine, and many with heavy dark wood panelling or doors, often with elaborate carvings, and 'ying-yang' terracotta rooves - bamboo-shaped tiles laid concave and convex in alternate rows.

Boxing Day morning was spent collecting some of the clothes we'd had made for the Vietnamese wedding we described in our last blog , and in the afternoon/evening, we went to a great party in Liz's apartment in Danang.   Liz's Vietnamese next-door neighbour had made a 5-litre pot full of a traditional 'straw wine' - a kind of gluhwein which takes several weeks to ferment, and into which she'd put 9 long bamboo straws so that 9 people at a time could take a sip, or six!   Don't think it was necessarily because of this wine, but everyone we met was very sociable and friendly, and it was great to meet up with so many of John's and Liz's local friends and colleagues, having already met so many of his sister's friends and colleagues back in Vientiane.

The following two days, we went on a motor-bike and jeep tour, organised by an Aussie friend of John's, which took us up into the mountains in the central highlands north-west of Hoi An, along some of the Ho Chi Minh trail which the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had used to such devastating effect against the Americans and their South Vietnamese collaborators, and past some of the ex-US bases.   By now,the weather had grown fairly overcast and, though warm enough to walk around in, it was occasionally bloody cold as we rushed through the mountains on the back of a motor-bike or in the window-less, door-less, US army jeeps.   As for the jeeps, we were absolutley amazed, given their recent history, that we were greeted with beaming smiles, shouted greetings, waves or even 'high-fives' as we drove through the towns and countryside villages.   Apart from one or two elderly people who looked on seemingly bemused, we found absolutely no hint of hostility from a people for whom these vehicles must be a symbol of everything they fought so doggedly against.   Overnight, we slept in a stilt-house in a local village, and played with some of the local children, before heading back through Danang to Hoi An for late afternoon/early evening on Tuesday.  

Since then, we've been to the wedding, done yet more shopping, cycled around exploring more of the town and the surrounding countryside, been to a Vietnamese cookery class, and eaten yet more fantastic food.   Our cookery class was a brilliant day out - we learned loads, and had a real good laugh too.   We assembled as 8 o'clock in the morning, together with Daniel and Tony from Melbourne, Glen, a Canadian academic from the Solomon Islands now living in Tokyo, Richard and Gabriella from Toronto, Yulia from Germany, Kevin and Jenny from Decatur in Georgia, and Suzanna from London.    We were taken by mini-bus to the organic vegetable village that Andy and I had visited a few days before, to see how they till and prepare the soil and grow the various vegetables and hundreds of different herbs, and, under our Chef's guidance, we bought armfuls of both to take with us.   Then there was a visit to a local Cho (market) to collect more supplies, before we were taken out to the Red Bridge Cooking School in a beautifully scenic location by the river-side about 5k out of the town.  Again under the guidance of our Vietnamese Chef, which he sprinkled liberally with lots of the kind of joshing and ribbing which seems such a natural party of their communications over here, we made 4 different Vietnamese dishes:  (1) Hanoi Beef and Rice Noodle Soup - for which a huge pot of home-made stock made from beef shins and onions, both barbecued briefly to reduce the fat and bring out of the flavours bubbled away for 2 hours on the barbecue nearby, and for which we also made our own noodles using rice batter, and a side dish of herbs and a pickle dip;  (2) Grilled Chicken and Banana Flower Salad, with a topping of Vietnamese mint, Asian basil, roasted sesame seeds and crispy shallots, and a dressing made from lime juice, fish sauce, crushed garlic and sugar;  (3) Lemongrass Shrimp wrapped in Banana Leaves, barbecued and accompanied with a lime dipping sauce; and (4) Clay Pot Fish with Fresh Dill, for which we used, amongst many other ingredients, fresh, rather than the more familiar powdered, turmeric.   Don't know if your mouths are watering yet, but mine certainly is, just remembering all the complex and beautiful flavours we managed to put together into such a sumptuous feast!  

After eating our lunch together, the 11 of us were taken back into town by river-boat, with our boatman doing his best to point out flora and fauna of interest - including, for only the second time in my entire life, a sighting of  kingfisher perched on the top of a small bush and then darting along the riverbank beside us in all its blue and green shimmering glory.   We'd had such a great time together that day, that all 11 oft us agreed to meet up later that evening to see in the New Year together.   The town itself, festive at the best of times, was really lively, and the many hundreds of lanterns already in situ were competing for attention with loads of new fairy-light displays all over the river-front, and floating candles placed on the river itself by people making New Year wishes.   We all spent the evening at the end of the An Hoi peninsular looking back towards the town of  Hoi An itself, where there are lots of rows of tables and chairs and several small, local eateries, usually catering only for local people.   On New Year's Eve, however, it seemed that, as well as our group, several others, each from multiple countries, had chosen this place as the venue for what turned into a truly great celebration.   At about 1 in the morning, and only after several renditions of Auld Lang Syne, we took our leave of the group, some of us promising to meet up again this evening - New Year's Day, and our last evening in Hoi An before we head off to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days, and thence to Bangkok for our flight home - English weather permitting!   But, let's not get ahead of ourselves - we have more exploring to do in HCMH yet .....

Silly Game Christmas Eve

More Silly Game!

Vietnamese Santa and Elves

Look What I Won!

Christmas Day on the Beach - with two good friends!

Straw Wine Maker (on left!)

Don't Tether Your Bullock to the Electricity Pole!

Dominic and Children

Hoi An Riverside from Christmas Lunch Table

Andy Helps Christmas Morning Catch

Christmas Lunch - a Toast to Cynth

One, Two, Three --- Suck!!

Dominic with Village Children

Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An

Cao Lau - a Local Delicacy

Lemongrass Shrimp in Banana Leaf

Hoi An, New Year's Eve

12th Century Cham Pagoda

Chef Selects His Banana Flower

Rice Noodle-making Steam Pot

Many Ingredients

Noodle Maker

Salad

New Year's Eve Celebrations

A Vietnamese Wedding

Wow!   We've just got back from the most amazing wedding party either of us has ever witnessed (not 'witnessed' in the formal sense, just attended as guests that is).  Without exaggeration, it was like something out of a Hollywood musical extravanganza!   It was held in an absolutely huge hotel/restaurant complex in Danang, the kind of complex which wouldn't look out of place in Vegas, I would imagine - all glitzy resort-style stuff, with vast marble staircases, extravagantly-decorated tables and chairs with huge organza bows on everything that didn't move (and some that did), massive floral decorations on every possible ledge or stand, and rows upon rows of immaculately liveried waiting staff.  

We'd been invited to attend the wedding party (the wedding ceremony itself had taken place earlier in the day, as we understand it) by a young couple, Nguyen (groom) and Kimmy (bride), whom we'd met at the strange outdoor 'bingo' game we've mentioned in an earlier blog.   They'd helped us to sort-of understand the game's rules, so that we could join in with the fun.   Kimmy spoke fairly good English, (despite having been living in the US for a few years!), and we spent, at most, two laughter-packed hours in their company a few days before Christmas.   They'd mentioned their impending wedding, and the fact that they are hoping to visit England some time in the next few years, and we'd exchanged e-mail addresses.   Imagine our surprise, then, when we got an e-mailed invitation, the day before Christmas Eve, to be on the guest-list!   As a result, Andy and I spent the morning of Christmas Eve being measured for some suitable clothes and shoes - neither of us having anything but flip-flops/trainers and shorts/T-shirts with us. And, of course, there's no better or cheaper place than Hoi An in the whole of Asia (except maybe Hong Kong) to get anything tailor-made.   Indeed, Andy was measured for a pair of trousers and two shirts (since he couldn't decide between two colours) at 11 am, and they were ready for collection - each item a perfect fit - at 4 pm that same day!

Anyway, back to the wedding party.   There were around 300 guests in all - surprisingly, given the setting and everything else, most of them in pretty every-day, un-fancy clothing.   Once we were all seated, the lights went down, there was a portentous roll of drums and then a booming, anthemic piece of music blared out from a massive sound system, as, shrouded in misty dry-ice and amidst showers of glittering silver confetti raining down from the ceiling, a group of four professional dancers (two girls and two boys all in sparkly-white ice-dancer-like outfits) pirouetted in through the double doors at the back of the ballroom, and performed a beautiful modern ballet along the cat-walk through the middle of the room and onto the large stage at the far end, itself all froth and glitter.   As they finished their routine, the double-doors opened again and this time the bride and groom, and both sets of parents, made their way gracefully and regally along the same catwalk to the stage, with yet more glittering showers and dry-ice.   Once there, they were followed by five young men in red 'bell-hop'-style livery, each one of them carrying a two-tiered wedding cake, which they placed ceremonially upon the five stepped cake-stands to one side of the stage, before leaving in a kind of military changing of the guards routine.   Kimmy's father then made a speech, the happy couple lit sparkly candles on each of the five cakes, and then two massive snow-shower-like fireworks whooshed up on either side of the stage, maybe 15 feet high and lasting for a good 5 minutes.   This was the cue for the side doors to open and admit maybe 70 liveried waiters and waitresses, all marching in single file to another tune being played by a rock band who'd arrived on stage, and carrying huge silver platters groaning with food.

We had 6 courses of gorgeous Vietnamese food, and as much coke or beer as we could take - all, strangely enough, poured into the pint-sized dimpled glass beer mugs which are now going out of fashion in UK pubs.   Only the bride and groom seemed to be honoured with dainty wine glasses, or even with wine.  Two women guests on either side of us served food into our bowls every few seconds, we think as a gesture of hospitality, whilst a man at our table filled up everyone's glasses with beer about every 10 seconds(!), every time insisting on us all 'clinking' and shouting 'mot hai ba, Yo' (one two three, Cheers).   This same guy slung all the empty bottles under the table! While we were eating, we were entertained by a variety of different wedding guests who sang songs, accompanied by the musicians on stage - to call it 'karaoke' would not really do it justice:  most of them were incredibly gifted singers - as well as one comic/magician.   There were also two huge video screens on either side of the stage, of the kind you'd see at most rock-concerts these days, which showed a rolling powerpoint presentation of some of the most beautiful wedding photography we've ever seen, of the young couple in a varety of settings and outfits - all of which must have taken place well before the wedding itself, not least because it was shot on location against beautiful backdrops in towns as far apart as Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Danang (maybe a 300km radius).

We'd been briefed by our hotel receptionist about the tradition of taking money in an envelope (rather than buying wedding presents) which is put into a large wicker box as you enter the party.   We'd also been told by her, and others, that the party would last for no more than 2 hours (it started at 11.30 am), and that the end would be fairly abrupt.   Even so, we weren't quite prepared for just how abrupt!   With beer and coke still undrunk in people's glasses, and the last remnants of fruit still half-peeled on people's plates, there was a sudden upsurge from the chairs and almost a stampede to get out of the double doors at the back of the room at just after 1 pm.   We were bundled temporarily onto another table as ours emptied like water down a plug-hole, everyone rushing back down the marble staircase and out onto their motor-bikes or to bus-stops across the street, waving goodbye, very unceremoniously, to the bride and groom who were standing at the foot of the stairs!   Only a couple of dozen people (ourselves included) were invited to stand in pairs or small groups to have their photograph taken with Kimmy and Nguyen as the place emptied out. The floor of the ballroom - in contrast to the poshness of the place when we came in - was awash with sea of spilt beer, orange peel, nut-shells, bits of unwanted food and paper napkins.

Our taxi was already waiting for us, and, though we'd had time to take our leave of the young couple, promising to stay in touch, we sat in the back of the car for the 30-minute drive back to Hoi An in gob-smacked wonderment, puzzling over what had become of the 'grand finale' idea which Hollywood would certainly have given us...

As Andy pointed out, it's doubtful whether the Royal Wedding in England (which we understand is happening next year between Prince Willy and Whatsername) will come anywhere near this level of glitz, glamour and extravagance.   But we bet there won't be a stampede out the door once the food and drink is nearly all gone!

Pee, Po, Belly, Bum, Drawers!

No, the title isn't another of my attempts at phonetics, nor some quaint Vietnamese custom we've learnt about.   It's just the rudest set of expletives I can express publicly - especially given that my mum and dad are reading this! [With apologies to Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, whose full lyrics can be seen by Googling the title here: 'Ma's out, Pa's out, Let's talk rude! "Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers"'].

But we really wanted to give vent to our frustration and sadness that our lovely friend, Cynthia, is snow-bound in Bridport and can't get out to join us as planned, and excitedly anticipated, for months now.   You may remember that she was to join us, as well as her own son John and daughter Jo, to celebrate Christmas and New Year together.   Amazing how the weather half a world away can mess up one's plans. Though we know she's bitterly disappointed, Cynth is, as ever, taking the blow in an amazingly positive way - and she's already virtually filled up her Christmas social calendar with good friends and dinner invitations in and around Bridport!

(By the way, sorry mum and dad, I don't really mean to paint you both as straight-laced puritans ...... just having a little fun at your expense to lighten the tone!)

We're already here in Hoi An, our Christmas and New Year meeting place, having made a swift dash from Hanoi over a shorter period than planned because of what WE regarded as the poor weather further north - dull, overcast, drizzly and occasionally cold - though I know it won't elicit any sympathy from those of you in the UK if I tell you that we even had to wear a fleece for two consecutive days!

Apart fron the dismal weather, though, we'd found the culture shock of manic Hanoi after tranquil Luang Prabang just a little too much to take.   We'd also made a big mistake in deviating from the Lonely Planet Guide's hotel recommendations, and ended up in a really horrible, dirty hotel there, where we foolishly stayed for one night before getting the first bus out of town the next morning.   Our hotel receptionist organised the bus for us - two hours to Ninh Binh, she said, the next largest town on the map, leaving at 08.30.  What she omitted to mention was that the bus she'd booked us on was an organised tour, and we found ourselves unwittingly visiting one of the three main tourist sights 12k north of Ninh Binh, an ancient citadel called Hoa Lu, along with the rest of the bemused fee-paying tour members.   But that delay in getting to Ninh Binh after nearly 5 hours rather than 2 was probably a blessing in disuise.   Ninh Binh was decidedly grim!   We hadn't properly read between the lines of the LPG's description, which, we later realised, was implying that the only reason for visiting this town was to get out of it as soon as possible to one of the three main tourist sights in the surrounding area.   So, after a couple of days there - in, fortunately, a rather swanky LPG-recommended hotel - we headed south to Hue on an overnight sleeper train, where the weather was still not good, and thence rather quickly by bus to Hoi An.   Here, we're pleased to tell you (but, again, you won't want to know) that the weather is hot and sunny, and the town, which we loved when we first visited with Intrepid in October, remains just about the most picture-postcard and fascinating town we've seen in the whole of Vietnam.  

We've already spent a couple of days bicycling around some of the nearby pottery-making , vegetable-growing and fishing villages, enjoyed a beautiful Full Moon festival on the lantern-strewn river that runs through the town, laughed at a really strange Vietnamese Ronnie Corbett look-a-like entertaining the crowd with a kind of sing-a-long bingo game on the riverfront, encountered two young couples in full traditional custome to celebrate their engagement, lounged on the beach and swum in the sea, eaten some of the best fish and seafood meals anywhere, and had a few clothes and shoes made for us.   And we still have 10 more days before we leave!   As for the engaged couples, by the way, coincidentally we'd just been reading in the local daily newspaper about the burgeoning over here of 'professional gift-bearers' for these events.   Apparently, it's the custom over here for the boy to arrange for younger boys of his acquaintance, and for the girl to find younger girls of her acquaintance, to carry engagement gifts to their girl/boy-friend.   However, many traditional families also believe that if a young person is called upon to do this more than three times, they won't find a partner of their own.   So, in the shortage caused by this belief, many more 'modern-thinking' young men and women are now setting up their own businesses to offer their services, and make some money for themselves.   What did we say earlier about the Vietnamese people's entrepreneurialism ...?

Well back to us, we're still planning on meeting up over Christmas with Cynth's son John, and his girlfriend, Liz, as well as our nephew, Dominic, who's flying in from Ho Chi Minh City, though his Egyptian girlfriend, and Jo in Vientiane, will not now be joining us after all.   And then there were five ....
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Until we post again, let's just wish to you all - and especially, in the circumstances, Cynthia - a very Happy Christmas.

Forward to a Socialist Future!

Vietnamese Engagement Garb

Vegetable Village

Fishing Village

Vietnamese Loch Ness Monster

Can He See Where He's Going??

There Were Some Nice Parts of Ninh Binh!

Saxa Claus

Thien Nga Hotel Vegetable Garden (from our balcony)

Yet More Markets! (Hoi An)

Hoa Lua Temple (that we hadn't planned to see!)

What Do They Sell!?

Night Train to Hue

Self-Portrait on Night Train

This Beast Started to Charge as I Snapped! (And Ran!)

Another Fishing Village

Fishing 'Bath Tubs', An Bang Beach

An Bang Beach - Where We Swam in December!

Pottery Village - Novel Method of Rotation!

........ in a Country That's Never Seen Any Snow!