Over the christmas break, i travelled to Central vietnam to get some much needed R'n'R and visit some more world heritage sites! It was also an opportunity to hang out with an AYAD friend of mine who lives in Danang.I flew into Danang on christmas eve and caught up with the resident "Da
nang-ian" AYAD, Amy, as well as some other Hanoi-based AYAD's who had also headed south for the winter. Danang is a cool river-side city and it was just nice chilling out at Amy's place and hanging out with some friends. We all woke up on christmas morning to bacon and eggs, and spent the rest of Christmas day hanging out at the beach. I enjoyed my first bodysurf in a long time before being whistled out by a very worried looking Vietnamese lifeguard wearing jeans. After we'd got out, the lifeguard then made his point again by pulling out his no-swimming sign from the main part of the beach and sticking it in the sand right in front of us
!I then visited Danang's main tourist attraction, the Marble Mountains. These are a group of five marble and limestone hills located close to the beach and named after the five 'elements' of metal, water, wood, fire and earth. The area is famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts, but thankfully, chipping away at the marble mountains themselves was banned recently. That night, we booked in to a western restaurant and had a traditional christmas dinner: roast turkey and pudding. And ofcourse, no Vietnamese christmas celebration would be complete without a late-night karaoke session!
The next morning, we headed out to the famous ancient town of Hoi An. Even though it rained all day (it's pretty much been raining there for the last 3 months!), this day was probably the highlight of my time in
Vietnam so far. The old town is a really well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century and the site was recognised as World Heritage in 1999. It's such a beautiful place to walk around - it's clean, has beautiful old buildings, great cafes, no cars, awesome clothes shopping, and happy local people with comfotable tourism-based livelihoods. Hoi An seems to have thrived in its World Heritage status which I think is in stark contrast to what has happened at Halong Bay. I definitely want to head back at some stage to get some clothes made although I did get time to buy a custom-made pair of sneakers (made in 4 hours at a cost of AU$25!).We then travelled 3 hours north to another World Heritage site - the city of Hue - which is famous for its heritage monuments. Hue was the imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty and was the national capital for 150 years until 1945 when the communist government was established in Hanoi. The city suffered considerable damage during the 'American' war but some of the monuments have now been restored. The city was declared a World Heritage site in 1993. The main attraction of Hue is the old fortified citadel which is surrounded by a 10km long moat and high wall. We spent a couple of hours walking around the forbidden palace inside the citadel.
We also visited the Thien Mu (Heavenly Lady) Pagoda which is located not far from the city centre along the Perfume River. This is the largest pagoda in Hue and is also the official symbol of the city. I also took the chance to sample the local brew, Huda, which is probably the nicest beer in Vietnam. Now if only i could get some brought over to Hanoi!
The next day we headed back to Hanoi in time to watch the "game that stopped the nation", the final of the ASEAN Footbal Championship - Vietnam vs Thailand. Vietnam is soccer mad, but their national team hasn't ever won much. So just making the final was a big deal.
The normally busy streets emptied out and we watched the game in a street cafe. With the scores level and full time approaching, tension mounted as the Viets started tiring. But with the very last play of the game (3 minutes into injury time), an amazing goal secured Vietnam it's first ever international title. The whole of Danang (and the rest of the country for that matter) went crazy! Thousands spilt out on the streets wearing red and yelling like mad. Those who had motorbikes drove round in circles and those who didn't lined the streets and cheered them on. I couldn't help getting caught up in the excitement and it was a great thrill to see such a mass outpouring of emotion from a nation who lives and breathes football.
PS: For this blog, i've posted 3 separate Picasa photo albums (Danang, Hoi An and Hue) so click on the photos at the top of the page to check them out.
