Hoi An, Vietnam
The night train from Nha Trang was a fun experience in slightly cramped quarters, with an adventurous jump and crawl to get into my top bunk. I brought along some mango to share with my bunkmates (I was honorary in the Kiwi room), and we tucked in early.
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| Plenty of space for everybody |
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| Rosie's photo of her bunk, with Kate, Gemma, Cassie, Grace, and Karen |
For our last day in Nha Trang, I met up with a few people for a late pho breakfast, then took a long walk along the beach to the Po Nagar temple. It was tucked away on a hill on the other side of town, watching over the fishing village along the river.
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| A vista worth the walk! |
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| Po Nagar |
There were four towers in the complex, dedicated to fertility. In each, the bricks were blackened and the tall pyramidal ceilings were masked with smoke from burning essence and foggy lighting aimed down at the shrine. In the tallest one, the ceiling was too far away to actually make out, no matter how I tried to adjust my eyes, and it felt like staring into the dark abyss above.
We deboarded the train and caught a bus into the city of Hoi An, and soon found a place to eat serving banh mi, a traditional bread meal in Vietnam - a sandwich.
Hoi An is now nothing like what we expected, where I would almost compare it to an Italian village, but with Chinese lanterns strung across the streets, lighting up the night. It is clean and photogenic, and some streets are even blocked off to the ubiquitous motorbike. This is a town built on its tailoring and fashion industry, and I spent some time getting a dress custom made, and then continuing to shop. It started raining during our late lunch yesterday, and I don't think it'll let up over our three nights here. I'm about to go see if our bike trip is still on for this morning, and get a fresh croissant and coffee!
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