Day 38: 16/7/13
(This was finished in April 2014 so may not be 100% accurate!!)
The train was about an hour and a half late this morning, which suited us fine!! We got extra sleep. Our guide had told us not to set an alarm or anything because the train can arrive at different times- he would keep checking where we were and then wake us before we needed to get off. We had to be ready to get off quickly aswell because the train wasn't going to stop for long, just enough time for us to get off! I fell asleep around 1 I think and we didn't have to get up until after six- a lot longer sleeping than the last train, despite being in the smelly cabin!!
We were all lined up in the corridor with our bags when we pulled in to the station. We hopped off and then had to get a 45 minute bus to Hoi An- travelling, travelling, travelling!!
Hoi An is an ancient port town- it was always busy in the past with traders from China, Japan and the likes, and was one of the first areas that the Anericans entered in the war.
We got to the hotel around 9, which usually means no check in but we were pleasantly surprised when they had all our rooms ready for us. There's also a pool in this one too, if we get any time to use it!!
We just had an hour to get ourselves sorted and we were off on a walking tour of the town. The old town is a unesco heritage site. You can see why. There's really old buildings- like an old village in Europe really, with narrow streets- most of them are yellow for some reason, with wooden doors and windows and balconies. There are bright pink, red and yellow flowers growing all around so they come right in over the street. It seems like the prettiest place I have been in so far in Asia!
We stopped at a Chinese temple first. Chinese people from the Minh dynasty escaped from China at one stage, possibly the 17th century, and many settled here. They built a temple here to worship their gods. It's sort of a Buddhist temple, but there are other deities worshipped too by those people. Khoa was pointing out different characteristics of temples like the way there is always a high threshold that you have to step over. It's so that you have to bow your head to give respect to the Gods. The steps, candles, incense, arches, etc always have odd numbers. Odd numbers are for worshipping the dead and the spirits and even numbers are for the people that are alive and you wouldn't be worshipping yourself.
The temple had lots of statues and displays for worshipping. One was for the god of the seas to pray for people at sea and fishing, etc. There was another for midwives and women to pray to have healthy children. There was a main part of the building, like the middle of a church and it had decoration type things hanging up which were actually wishes people had made. There was incense to be burned in every little corner, at every little statue!
There was a Japanese bridge in the middle of the town. It was a wooden sort of bridge with a roof and was all decorative. There was a legend about a sea monster and the tail of the sea monster being in this town. Also the bridge used to be linking two cities and there was a dog and a goat I think to represent the two cities. In the middle of the bridge there was a doorway that had a little temple inside it. Even in bridges they manage to have a temple!!
We went to an ancient house which was supposed to be seven centuries old. A family who have owned it for centuries live there and they welcomed us and gave us tea. There they had little chains for sale, almost like miraculous medals, with the symbol for the year you were born. They spoke to us a little about each animal and what it meant. I'm a pig of course! The coins are supposed to bring you good luck.
The guide then showed us around the shops. This city is all about shopping and is full of tailors and dressmakers so you can get all your clothes, coats, shoes, etc hand-made. He showed us some of the best places and then some cheaper versions. He showed us aswell where the guys from Top Gear had gone when they were here- it looked like a big hotel but it seemed to be a place to get suits made.
We had lunch then in a restaurant along the bank of the river. The views here are really lovely- the buildings, bridges, flowers, etc all make it look so pretty. I went to the bathroom at one stage and when I came out Steph jumped out at me! She had been waiting ages to do it and the workers were all watching here thinking it was hilarious!!
We had some time for shopping then. There were loads of little shops selling souvenir things like t-shirts, jewellery, bowls, etc and they were nice to potter around. We went to the tailor then to think about getting clothes made. We spent ages looking at fabrics and styles and there was a different worker attending to all of us! Ann-Marie decided to get two dresses for weddings she has coming up. Hannah got a coat made. I don't think Steph got anything, but I can't remember! We met some of the other girls when they were finished ordering and they had like 5/6 things made! I spent ages looking at designs and I saw some fabrics I liked but I didn't really think I could afford it, and I wasn't really sure what it would look like. They would have to make it and then I could decide I didn't like if, which wouldn't be very nice!! I was ages deciding. They had the fabric up against me to give me an idea what it would look like and the girls took a photo so I could see it and I didn't like it at all! So I abandoned the idea and decided not to get anything made, after about an hour in the shop!
We went back to the hotel then for a little bit.
Internet- clothes (I can't remember what this was about!!)
We signed up for a cooking class in the evening. We thought everyone would want to do it, as it's one of the main things to do in this town, but only Steph, Hannah, Dan, Mike, Ann-Marie and I signed up for it. There was one lady teaching us and all the ingredients were all ready for the few dishes we were going to make. She was kinda mad and was randomly singing all the time! She asked our names and decided to christen Dan, Ding-Dong, and when Ann-Marie said her name Hannah and Steph were telling her just to call her potato (which is what they call both of us!). So she called her Potaato Annie! She really cooked the meals and it us to chop things and mix a few things for her here and there. She got the lads to do a good few things a just so she could give them nicknames! When they had to squeeze out juice, they were an easy, squeezy man, etc.
We made a sweet and sour chicken soup which was lovely and was definitely something you could think of making at home, because it tasted like something that would be really nice on a cold winters day. We made spring rolls aswell which we are getting used to at this stage! I don't know where in Ireland you'd get rice paper though! We made a noodle dish that wed gotten a few times and is nice and fish in a banana leaf. You put all these herbs an juices and stuff on it and wrap it in the banana leaf to cook. I don't think there's be many banana leaves in tesco either! It was a bit of craic anyway and they gave us the recipes for the dishes we had made so we can try them at home.
We walked home after the cooking class. The rest of the group had gone for dinner together instead of the cooking class so they were all probably gone for a drink.
Hannah wasn't feeling well on the way home and felt sort of faint and light headed. She just collapsed on the bed when we got back. We told Steph to tell us if she got worse and we went back to our own room, which was just next door. We heard her vomiting a little while later and we went back in. She was really weak and just hanging over the toilet bowl. She was saying every part of her just ached. We were all worried about malaria cos the girls had been in Africa for 8 weeks and when we looked up the symptoms of malaria of course she had all of them!!
The rest of the group came back from the pub and we called Jaquie cos she's a nurse. She thought we better get a doctor to be on the safe side. I went down to Khoa to ask for a doctor and he rang one who came quickly enough. We left while he was there but it turned out she had been severely deficient in calcium and he gave her an injection of calcium as well as a few other tablets to sort her out. Later she was saying she drinks bucket loads of milk at home and they don't really have any dairy stuff in the restaurants here.
So that was an eventful night- but for the wrong reasons!