19th August, 2012.
Picture from http://www.vietnamstay.com/tour/vietnaminyoureyes_map.htm
A quick gaze out our window at the scurrying traffic below, a quick walk around the block, wishing I had more time to explore the boutique shops, then we made the short flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the industrial city of Da Nang in North Viet Nam, then drove by bus to the World Heritage city of Hoi An.
This tour did not fiddle around.
Having lunch with Woodley and Dorothy, the other Australian Smiths, in a restaurant opposite our hotel in Hoi An.
Hoi An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.
Well, no rest for the wicked. After a very pleasant lunch, off we set on foot to explore the indigenous and foreign influences of Hoi An (on a very hot afternoon.) Firstly, we wandered through the markets:
I’m sure the kitchen sink’s in here somewhere.
Speckled quail eggs. The eggs on the left are the delicacy of century eggs, originally made by preserving eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice hulls for fifty to one hundred years. Cheaper production methods may call for only periods of several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.
I have come to regard these little plastic stools as a symbol of Vietnamese efficiency. A street vendor can carry an entire mobile restaurant on a push bike, loaded with food, cooking and eating equipment and plastic stools. Customers hold their food on their laps, so there is no need for tables.
We came across this strong lady several times, carrying two full buckets of water over her shoulder.
There she is again.
Lotus buds and some seeds.
Such is the contrast of the lotus flower to the environment wherein it grows, that long ago, Buddha used it as a symbol of his teachings. Growing out of the impure, the dirty, and the waste products of civilization, the lotus lifts high its stately and lovely blossom in such unsullied and pure form that it is an object lesson. Buddha taught that as the flower achieves its mark in spite of its environment, so may men (and women?) lose their passions and desires and thereby find release in the spiritual serenity of Nirvana.
The lotus bud is perhaps the single most popular offering of the Buddhist as he or she worships at a temple, or home altar.
Likewise, it has come to form a part of Asian architectural and sculptural motifs. From http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/rsv/rsv31.htm
The seeds are used for snacks and in desserts, and in traditional medicine.
Hoi An street scene.
We had Quisqualis or Rangoon Creeper growing at our home near Ayr, North Queensland. But it never grew like this.
Bridge across the Thu Bon River, Hoi An:
We also visited the Quan Cong Temple, the Phuoc Kien Pagoda, the Japanese Covered Bridge and a silk workshop – among other things.
Four Smiths at the end of the long walk in Hoi An. Now, what about a foot massage?
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