whitebait: my son

I'm writing this post from the pleasant town/city(?) of Hoi An, one of those interesting places with a long history as a centre of maritime trade. According to my guide that history goes back to the second century BC and trade exchanges between India and China. Things then peaked a lot later on in the mid-16th century with vessels from China, Japan and Europe regularly docking here (the port was then called Fai Fo). The significance of the port as a trading place eventually diminished as the Japanese shogunate prohibited foreign travel and, more crucially, the river started silting up in the late 18th century. The architecture around the town offers resonant traces of this history in forms such as a Japanese style covered bridge and a number of Assembly Halls built according to place of origin (Hainan, Guangdong etc) of the different ethnic Chinese groups that settled here.

~~[Apologies for the lack of accompanying photographs at this stage but very few of the internet places I've used so far allow me to plug in my camera etc.]~~

Contemporary Hoi An is an interesting place, though perhaps a bit too touristy for its charms to completely take hold (in my case anyway). Its main claim to fame is in terms of the number of tailors who will generally produce a range of very high quality, personally fitted clothes for you at comparatively very cheap prices. These can be copies of existing clothes you might have or anything you select from contemporary magazines and catalogues located in the shops themselves.FrauleinDrDr and I originally planned to get some things made but lost the impetus when we got here.

Our most fun experience was yesterday when we bit the bullet and rented a motorcycle to ride to the ancient Champa ruins at My Son, about 40km from the Hoi An. Those who have been to Vietnam will appreciate the significance of the mention of the motorcycle given its centrality as a mode of transport here. The whole economy and culture of motorbikes (generally not so powerful - mostly 50-100cc kind of size) is eye-opening. They dominate the streets and make crossing the road in places like Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon an adrenalin-inducing experience. Similarly, taking a taxi or bus anywhere is an exercise in 'should I or shouldn't I look' due to the fairly 'open' traffic rules (which seem to be firstly that anyone might move anywhere at anytime and, secondly, big wins everytime). Many amazing small businesses revolve around the motorbike. On street corners you often see the umbrella, a small plastic chair, a couple of spanners and the air compressor of a mobile one-man service station. Bike riding also comes with its own interesting fashions. My favourite are the bandanas and elbow-length silk gloves that women wear to protect themselves from the sun. Combined with a chic ao dai (high school girls wear a pure white version), the traditional silk tunic and trousers, its a wonderful look - the exoticised other returns as a bandit figure! More eye-popping is the sight of who rides on these bikes - often toddlers are sitting up front. Several times I've seen families of four, once even five, riding on the same bike. At other times one can see full-sized refrigerators or large mirrors tied to the back of these small bikes. Crucially, 99% of motorbike riders don't wear helmets. As one might imagine there is a very high level of cranial imageries. Currently the government is running a major advertising campaign to address this (images to follow when I can). According to one of the staff at the hotel we are staying at, the number of bikes has increased significantly in recent times. He recalled that around 1997 there was only one motorbike owned in his village whereas when he returned recently for a visit every family appeared to have one.

So abandoning too much thought about exclusions in our travel insurance policy we hired a bike and set off for My Son early in the morning around 7.30am. I'm not a motorbike rider (just the odd farmbike experience when I was younger in New Zealand) but it proved reasonably straightforward. Like many traffic systems that initially appear chaotic this one was actually fairly logical in its own crazy way once you settled into it. The hardest task on the smaller roads was avoiding various animals from dogs to cows as well as the different kinds of produce (rice, corn etc) being dried on tarps that spilled over from the side of the road.

My Son itself was quite stunning and atmpospheric. It is the best Cham site in Vietnam. Champa was an Indianized(?) kingdom that ruled parts of southern and central Vietnam for 14 centuries. I'm pretty sure this is the same kingdom responsible for Angkor Wat. While according to my guide My Son is nowhere as spectacular as AW it was nevertheless quite amazing. Sweltering heat and humidity, an ever-encroaching jungle setting helped with this. Also poignant were the indentations of the odd B-52 bomb crater (you are warned not to stray off marked trails here due to the dangers of remaining unexploded ordinance). In one display an empty American War shell is plonked tellingly next to a series of fragments from 4th century onwards ruins (the area was heavily bombed and partly destroyed at one stage during the American war). Next to the path a light blue headed, prehistoric looking lizard soaked up some rays.

When we got back to entrance we found that our motorbike had a flat back tyre. Fortunately another rider, a Vietnamese tourist guide who was transporting an Australian women around the country on his bike (what an adventure!), helped us out with his portable pump so we could get to a bike workshop about 1km up the road. When we got there the tyre was fine, as was it the rest of the day, making me think that there was some kind of scam planned at the tourist site (someone let down our tyre in the supervised parking space - there are a couple so I'd recommend the first one you reach rather than the second). We had an incident-free ride home which included a stop at a small roadside cafe where FrauleinDrDr bought a bandana and I ended up having some excellent superstrong shots of the fabulous local coffee.