View allAll Photos Tagged hoi
From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:
Upon waking up and checking out around 8:00 in the morning, we found a bright, sunny day; great for a road trip down to Hoi An. After a quick breakfast (also known as me watching Junebug drink coffee), we went back to the store where we’d met Mr. Trung on Monday night.
Mr. Trung & Mr. Trong were there, as they said they would be, and we were off for a quick stop at the Danang Cathedral a few blocks away. This particular cathedral, also called Con Ga Church (Rooster Church) by the locals is slightly peculiar. For starters, it’s a lovely pastel pink. Aside from that, it’s a rather nice looking cathedral, though we couldn’t go inside; it wasn’t open that early in the morning, I suppose. (Some of the windows were open, though, and it was dark inside, so we didn’t miss much.)
The other aspect of this church – that lends to its local name – is the weathercock on top of the steeple. This isn’t an old church (as far as churches go). It was buily for Danang’s French residents in 1923 and today serves a Catholic community of over 4000. (Thanks to LP for this information…)
After 5-10 minutes at the church, we headed off to the Museum of Cham Sculpture, which is a place I was quite interested in seeing. This museum was founded in 1915 and has the largest collection of Cham artefacts in the world. (Before you allow that to excite you, I doubt there are more than a handful of museums in the world that even have Cham art.)
A quick note about the Cham. This is an ancient empire that rivaled the neighboring Khmer empire at Angkor. The Champa empire was nowhere near as large in scope or size as the Khmer empire, though it persevered. The Chams controlled the region on the Vietnamese coast from central to southern Vietnam between the 2nd and the 19th century (before finally being assimilated into Vietnam).
The art from this museum comes from sites all over the country including Phu Quoc and My Son. I was quite impressed by the collection and spent about an hour slowly walking around. It’s not a huge museum, but what they have is excellent.
From the museum, we finally headed off from Danang and made our way south towards Hoi An. Thanks to the advice of Mr. Trung, we stopped at Marble Mountain on the way to Hoi An. (I kept thinking it sounds like an amusement park…) Instead, I’ll give an excerpt from LP Vietnam about the Marble Mountains as it’s fairly succinct and says most of what you need to know:
“Just off the China Beach coastal road, the Marble Mountains (Ngu Hanh Son) consist of five craggy marble outcrops topped with pagodas. Each mountain is named for the natural element it’s said to represent: Thuy Son (Water), Moc Son (Wood), Hoa Son (Fire), Kim Son (Metal or Gold) and Tho Son (Earth). The villages that have sprung up at the base of the mountains specialize in marble sculpture, though they now astutely use marble from China rather than hacking away at the mountains that bring the visitors (and buyers) in.”
When you say you’re going to the Marble Mountains, what you really mean to say is that you’re going to Thuy Son. For about $2-3, you take an elevator up to the top of the mountain. This is the “crowded” mountain in terms of sites and, therefore, people, though it didn’t feel crowded at all – especially by Chinese standards that I’m accustomed to.
The first thing you see upon exiting the elevator at the top of the mountain is a pavilion that affords a nice view of the sea. The Sea Watch Tower & Xa Loi Pagoda are a good introduction to this mountain.
After that, you come to the first temple & cave. The Linh Ung Pagoda is directly in front of the Tang Chon Cave. From there, it’s a short, and not too strenuous, walk upstairs towards the peak. En route, you pass Van Thong Cave (which we skipped), exiting a “gorge” through a masonry gate.
At this point, you come to an area that can go off in quite a few directions. Immediately to the right of the gate is a short walk up to Linh Nham Cave (which we skipped); a relaxation area with another walk off that to the peak (skipped…); a path to Tam Thai Pagoda, Tam Ton Pagoda, and Tu Tom Pagoda (visited all). In addition, the River Watch Tower is off in this direction with its views of the other 4 Marble Mountains and Danang in the distance.
After visiting the pagodas, we returned to the main junction and visited the last two caves (past the relaxation area). Hoa Nghiem Cave guards the entrance to Huyen Khong Cave, which is a somewhat large cavern with a natural oculus.
From there, we walked down to the village at the base, and I bought a little marble Buddha. We talked with Mr. Trong for a few minutes about getting from Hoi An to Hue on Thursday. With very little negotiation, we paid 1.35 million VND/person (~$60). For a point of comparison, the domestic flights in Vietnam all seem to be less than $50, so this was a bit pricy, but also worth it.
With “negotiating” done, we were off again to Hoi An, about 20 kilometers off to the south. The Hoang Trinh Hotel was – by far – the best customer service I’ve had at a hotel on this trip (and possibly anywhere). It felt like we were being welcomed on Fantasy Island. The only thing missing was Tattoo shouting, “De plane! De plane!”
Madam An’s hotel is a wonderful experience. Buffet breakfast; comfortable, trendy rooms; tour arrangements and other advice; and the friendliest demeanor you could wish for. They even gave me a free tie when we checked out. The cost for this? About $25/night.
The Hoang Trinh hotel is right across the street from the Confucian Temple (which was incredibly unappealing to me) and, more importantly, close to the Old Town, which is the reason most people come to Hoi An.
Every full moon, Hoi An has a lantern festival which is supposed to be quite lovely, though we weren’t here during a full moon. That, however, didn’t keep me from enjoying myself. The Old Town is just a section of town near the river where all the buildings appear as they did centuries ago. Inside the buildings now, though, are restaurants (Vietnamese & western), bars, souvenir shops, and the like.
The Old Town is photogenic during day or night, but I liked it best at dusk. On Tuesday, after a quick rest at the hotel, we went to the Old Town in the early afternoon after grabbing some banh mi on the street.
Admission to the Old Town is 120,000 VND (~$5-6 US) and covers a full week. We spent the afternoon watching the sun go by, wandering around shops, and drinking beer (or coffee) on the riverside opposite Old Town. As the sun got lower, we wandered around the Old Town again, eventually eating a less-than-satisfying pizza (thank God I wasn’t too hungry) at one of the restaurants next to the river before passing by the Japanese Bridge on the way back to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, we had the fellow at the front desk (whose English wasn’t nearly as fluent as Jean, the day girl, but he was just as helpful) arrange a day trip on Wednesday to My Son, which is “Vietnam’s version of Angkor Wat.” More on that in the next installation.
As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.
The river front in the ancient town of Hoi An, near Danang, where I stopped over for a night to break the epic train journey from Hanoi to Saigon. Undamaged in the war, and extensively restored in the last twenty years, this fabulous town is now a Unesco World Heritage site. I turned up out of season, and treated myself to a night at an upmarket Spa/Resort, where I was a little surprised to find that I had the run of the place. It was a bit like 'The Shining' but with Palm Trees (And without a homicidal, axe wielding maniac). Fantastic place to spend a couple of days.
Incidentally, I woke up this morning in the DMZ, just north of Dong Ha. I wouldn't have known, it just looked like regular farmland, it was only its proximity to Dong Ha and an announcement on the train that gave the game away.
Image from the Travel Photography Portfolio of Brendan van Son
Blog at www.brendansadventures.com
Instagram and twitter: @brendanvanson
From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:
Upon waking up and checking out around 8:00 in the morning, we found a bright, sunny day; great for a road trip down to Hoi An. After a quick breakfast (also known as me watching Junebug drink coffee), we went back to the store where we’d met Mr. Trung on Monday night.
Mr. Trung & Mr. Trong were there, as they said they would be, and we were off for a quick stop at the Danang Cathedral a few blocks away. This particular cathedral, also called Con Ga Church (Rooster Church) by the locals is slightly peculiar. For starters, it’s a lovely pastel pink. Aside from that, it’s a rather nice looking cathedral, though we couldn’t go inside; it wasn’t open that early in the morning, I suppose. (Some of the windows were open, though, and it was dark inside, so we didn’t miss much.)
The other aspect of this church – that lends to its local name – is the weathercock on top of the steeple. This isn’t an old church (as far as churches go). It was buily for Danang’s French residents in 1923 and today serves a Catholic community of over 4000. (Thanks to LP for this information…)
After 5-10 minutes at the church, we headed off to the Museum of Cham Sculpture, which is a place I was quite interested in seeing. This museum was founded in 1915 and has the largest collection of Cham artefacts in the world. (Before you allow that to excite you, I doubt there are more than a handful of museums in the world that even have Cham art.)
A quick note about the Cham. This is an ancient empire that rivaled the neighboring Khmer empire at Angkor. The Champa empire was nowhere near as large in scope or size as the Khmer empire, though it persevered. The Chams controlled the region on the Vietnamese coast from central to southern Vietnam between the 2nd and the 19th century (before finally being assimilated into Vietnam).
The art from this museum comes from sites all over the country including Phu Quoc and My Son. I was quite impressed by the collection and spent about an hour slowly walking around. It’s not a huge museum, but what they have is excellent.
From the museum, we finally headed off from Danang and made our way south towards Hoi An. Thanks to the advice of Mr. Trung, we stopped at Marble Mountain on the way to Hoi An. (I kept thinking it sounds like an amusement park…) Instead, I’ll give an excerpt from LP Vietnam about the Marble Mountains as it’s fairly succinct and says most of what you need to know:
“Just off the China Beach coastal road, the Marble Mountains (Ngu Hanh Son) consist of five craggy marble outcrops topped with pagodas. Each mountain is named for the natural element it’s said to represent: Thuy Son (Water), Moc Son (Wood), Hoa Son (Fire), Kim Son (Metal or Gold) and Tho Son (Earth). The villages that have sprung up at the base of the mountains specialize in marble sculpture, though they now astutely use marble from China rather than hacking away at the mountains that bring the visitors (and buyers) in.”
When you say you’re going to the Marble Mountains, what you really mean to say is that you’re going to Thuy Son. For about $2-3, you take an elevator up to the top of the mountain. This is the “crowded” mountain in terms of sites and, therefore, people, though it didn’t feel crowded at all – especially by Chinese standards that I’m accustomed to.
The first thing you see upon exiting the elevator at the top of the mountain is a pavilion that affords a nice view of the sea. The Sea Watch Tower & Xa Loi Pagoda are a good introduction to this mountain.
After that, you come to the first temple & cave. The Linh Ung Pagoda is directly in front of the Tang Chon Cave. From there, it’s a short, and not too strenuous, walk upstairs towards the peak. En route, you pass Van Thong Cave (which we skipped), exiting a “gorge” through a masonry gate.
At this point, you come to an area that can go off in quite a few directions. Immediately to the right of the gate is a short walk up to Linh Nham Cave (which we skipped); a relaxation area with another walk off that to the peak (skipped…); a path to Tam Thai Pagoda, Tam Ton Pagoda, and Tu Tom Pagoda (visited all). In addition, the River Watch Tower is off in this direction with its views of the other 4 Marble Mountains and Danang in the distance.
After visiting the pagodas, we returned to the main junction and visited the last two caves (past the relaxation area). Hoa Nghiem Cave guards the entrance to Huyen Khong Cave, which is a somewhat large cavern with a natural oculus.
From there, we walked down to the village at the base, and I bought a little marble Buddha. We talked with Mr. Trong for a few minutes about getting from Hoi An to Hue on Thursday. With very little negotiation, we paid 1.35 million VND/person (~$60). For a point of comparison, the domestic flights in Vietnam all seem to be less than $50, so this was a bit pricy, but also worth it.
With “negotiating” done, we were off again to Hoi An, about 20 kilometers off to the south. The Hoang Trinh Hotel was – by far – the best customer service I’ve had at a hotel on this trip (and possibly anywhere). It felt like we were being welcomed on Fantasy Island. The only thing missing was Tattoo shouting, “De plane! De plane!”
Madam An’s hotel is a wonderful experience. Buffet breakfast; comfortable, trendy rooms; tour arrangements and other advice; and the friendliest demeanor you could wish for. They even gave me a free tie when we checked out. The cost for this? About $25/night.
The Hoang Trinh hotel is right across the street from the Confucian Temple (which was incredibly unappealing to me) and, more importantly, close to the Old Town, which is the reason most people come to Hoi An.
Every full moon, Hoi An has a lantern festival which is supposed to be quite lovely, though we weren’t here during a full moon. That, however, didn’t keep me from enjoying myself. The Old Town is just a section of town near the river where all the buildings appear as they did centuries ago. Inside the buildings now, though, are restaurants (Vietnamese & western), bars, souvenir shops, and the like.
The Old Town is photogenic during day or night, but I liked it best at dusk. On Tuesday, after a quick rest at the hotel, we went to the Old Town in the early afternoon after grabbing some banh mi on the street.
Admission to the Old Town is 120,000 VND (~$5-6 US) and covers a full week. We spent the afternoon watching the sun go by, wandering around shops, and drinking beer (or coffee) on the riverside opposite Old Town. As the sun got lower, we wandered around the Old Town again, eventually eating a less-than-satisfying pizza (thank God I wasn’t too hungry) at one of the restaurants next to the river before passing by the Japanese Bridge on the way back to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, we had the fellow at the front desk (whose English wasn’t nearly as fluent as Jean, the day girl, but he was just as helpful) arrange a day trip on Wednesday to My Son, which is “Vietnam’s version of Angkor Wat.” More on that in the next installation.
As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.
Đố các bạn Thư ở đâu ;)). Và cái bé bệnh kia là Bành Ny =))))))) tết năm nay nữa là đúng 4 năm ae mình biết nhau >:D<
Hội An, also Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of
Vietnam. It is located in Quảng Nam Province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants. It is recognized as
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Hội 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.
The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ấp Phố (Champa
City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade
and with this came tremendous wealth. The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu Bồn River was
an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as
well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho
(Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the
"Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century). The bridge (Chùa cầu) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese,
the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.