(Delayed entry) After the Ideal Hotel's Vietnamese/Western breakfast buffet, I found my driver waiting to take me to Hoi An. I knew there would be some challenges to the trip as his English was almost non-existent. We headed south out of Hue on the road that would either lead to the long tunnel under or the mountain road over the Hai Van Pass, at 500 m above sea level, the highest pass in Vietnam. The first stop was to view Lang Co beach followed by a stop at one of the Lang Co beach resorts for a break and quick walk on the beach. From there, we continued to climb up on a road somewhat reminiscent of some stretches of California's Highway 1 to reach Hai Van Pass or "Pass of the Ocean Clouds." This is considered one of Vietnam's most scenic roads. At the pass there is a restaurant which I did not visit, but across the road some military fortifications built by the French and later used by the Vietnamese and Americans. I climbed up the path among the fortifications with walls pocked with bullet holes. These were the first bullet holes I had seen from the fighting. It is a disturbing feeling to be standing in such a place knowing that years before fighting and killing occurred in that exact place. During the "American War," the highway served as the highway served as the supply line between the north and the south and the U.S. army invested substantial effort in keeping it open, especially when bad weather made aerial resupply of American troops impossible.

The view from the top south is toward Danang Bay and, apparently, on the beach closest to the pass there is a leper colony. We continued driving, descending toward Danang and driving around its perimeter along the coast, then coming to a large marble showroom, at the base, I think of the Marble Mountains. Due to my inability to communicate effectively with my driver, I was not really aware that that is where we were, so we did not stop. Apparently one can travel into the Marble Mountains which have sacred caves. South of the Marble Mountains is about 1 mile of new and large beach resorts, vaguely reminiscent of Cancun along My Khe or China Beach. (I later learned that residents of Danang are very upset by all the construction because it has removed public access to the beach). This beach was used during the war by American troops for R&R.

From China Beach, it was about 15-20 minutes until we reached Hoi an, the destination. When we pulled up to the Cua Dai hotel, it was not the same hotel I had been advised the tour would be using. This was an issue because I had booked an extra night at the hotel when the tour finished. I got the driver to call the local tour guide who contacted the Intrepid office in Hanoi. After some time and more calls, I was told that the hotel had been changed back in August and I should have been notified in the U.S. When I met the tour guide she said the paper she was given had the same information I had received, but someone had crossed out the original hotel and had the new hotel handwritten in. I checked in and the hotel was nice, small with a small pool and outdoor eating area small but beautifully landscaped grounds. There was a kitchen on site and I was able to eat lunch there and had a lovely banana blossom/chicken salad.

I met the guide after lunch and the afternoon plan was to explore Hoi An. We took off on her motor scooter to the old city area, about a mile away, parked the motor scooter, and headed off on foot. We first visited the Chinese assembly hall, Phoc Kien, which was originally built as a pagoda in the 1718. When the ethnic Chinese took it over in the 1800s, it was rededicated as a temple to Thien Hau, Goddess of the Sea and protector of sailors. The next stop was Tan Ky Merchant House built in the late sixteenth century by a member of the Tan Ky family who fled China as a political refuge. The house has remained in the family for eight generations and, in 1985, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We then walked through the Japanese Covered Bridge, adopted as Hoi An's emblem. It dates back at least to the sixteenth century. According to local folklore, the bridge was built after Japan had some violent earthquakes due to a restless monster whose head lay in India, tail in Japan, and heart in Hoi An. The bridge was built and its stone piles would drive a sword through the beast's heart as well as allow passage over the creek below.

Hoi An is a very attractive and well-preserved old Vietnamese city that has been unaffected by war. It sits along a river which may overflow onto the adjacent walkway just with the ebb and flow of the tide, but has also been known to cause serious floods, up to 3 meters two years ago. Hoi An is known for its silk and its many tailors; clothes can be purchased read made or can be made to order, generally within 24 hours.

We walked the streets eyeing the many shops to reach Gioan Cooking School where my guide left me with a promise to meet me the next morning (after I moved hotels). I spent the next two hours with two wonderful young Vietnamese woman, shopping in the local market, and cooking. All was done with a focus on good nutrition, hygiene, and proper technique in cooking. The dishes prepared were Sweet and Sour Chicken Soup, Fried Spring Rolls, Green Papaya Salad, and Fish in Banana Leaf. Once we made all these dishes, I then had this private feast to myself for dinner. After dinner, I spent some time talking with the one young woman (25) who was there about her life and hopes for her future. She is single and has great concerns about getting into a relationship/marriage with the right kind of man. The woman who taught me the cooking came from a small village where her grandmother fostered her interest in cooking, did not complete school, and taught herself English. She has very good skills, such as her knife skills. We talked a bit about politics. The Vietnamese cannot speak out publicly against their government for fear of being arrested and imprisoned. She expressed great disillusionment with the government and felt that it ignores the needs of the common person. As an example, she cited the flood two years earlier and said the people in Hoi An heard in the news about great amounts of international aid dollars coming in to help, but that the people themselves never got any help and never saw any benefits directly from this aid.

I then walked back to the hotel which was a bit of a distance, compounded by the fact that I got a bit lost. Actually I didn't really get lost, but the street the hotel is on changed its name. So I was walking on the correct pavement but couldn't tell because it had the wrong name, so I turned off trying to find the street with the correct name and ended up walking way out of my way and asking for directions (which was useless because the people I asked didn't understand me.) Finally I found someone who spoke English who got me going in the correct direction and then on the way I found an English speaking woman in a pharmacy who helped me continue on the correct path. Once back at the hotel, I settled in.