Joe goes for a walk this morning, as the sun is out! I REPEAT, THE SUN IS OUT! FULLY! The moment the door clicks behind him, the girls and I are awake as well, these beds are fantastic, and we wake up feeling well rested. I message him to let him know we’re heading for breakfast, and he plans to join us there.
We take it easy this morning, we have booked a tour for this afternoon, and know we’ll be go-go-go from 1pm to 9pm, so we hang out, play some games, blog, work and watch some tv. At 11am, we head out. We need to find an ATM before we can have lunch and go on our tour. Both ATMs we tried last night did not work, one was out of money, the other did not accept international cards. Today, we have a taxi drop us off close to the meeting point for the tour, and we walk to the nearest ATM. No luck. It spits my card out so forcefully, I’m actually offended. The next ATM is the same. The third ATM has an older couple making multiple transaction, and the line behind us grows. Joe gives up and goes to a different ATM, so just as it’s my turn at this one, he calls and says he had success at the one down the street. Finally!
We walk back to the pho place I had picked, as it is close to where the tour will pick us up. It’s one of the busy places where they barely nod in your direction before your food is on the table, and please can you finish eating so you can leave and the next people can eat? Hence, no photos. No time! Joe and I had a bowl of pho each, and the girls split a bowl. It’s satisfying, but a very rushed experience, and before we know it, we’re on our way to the Novotel to meet our bus.
Our tour is going to pick us up at 1.30, and they ask us to be there 10 minutes before. We arrive early, and wait in the lobby. At 1.10pm we get a text from our tour guide informing us that they are delayed, and can we please be there by 2.15pm? So we wait. We’re an hour walk from our own hotel, and there’s no point trying to go anywhere else in the meanwhile.
The minibus finally arrives and we join the four other people already on the bus. A German couple give up their back row seats so the four of us can sit together, and we head off to pick up the last four passenger, making this a full tour of 12.
Our first stop is the carving shop right across from the Marble Mountains. Of course, part of our tour is a mandatory visit to a store that sells all things marble, and most of the carvings are enormous statues and water features, perfect for a garden or grand entryway. Who’s got that sort of room in their suitcase? Not us!
The Marble Mountains are five limestone mountains that pop up in an otherwise very flat environment. These mountains have always been spiritual sites, and many kings and buddhists have built towers and pagodas here. There is a network of caves and tunnels here too, drawing so many tourists every day, they even built an elevator to get them from the bottom to 1/3 of the way up. It might not seem like much, but that bottom set of stairs was the hardest ones to climb!
After we climb back down from the Marble Mountains, we go back onto the bus, and we are now headed for the Coconut Forest to go ride some boats. Joe has been watching the videos, and keep scaring us with stories of rocking the boat. We don’t want no rocking boats, thank you very much!
We arrive at the shore, and are swiftly shown to our boats. The boats take two tourists at a time, so Téa and I head for one, and if Joe wants to rock his boat, him and Maylin are ready for it! Téa and I will have a calmer ride, please.
Our next stop was dinner. As with any tour meal, we were shuffled into a restaurant, to waiting tables, and suddenly we all had food. We started off with a large bowl of noodle soup, and so of course the girls and I were full after this. Then came spring rolls, broken rice with chicken, soup and watermelon. Way too much food, but at least we were all full!
After dinner, we were free to roam the streets of old Hoi An. “Ancient Town” Hoi An is another place completely focused on tourists and their cash. You are met immediately by ladies selling you their boat’s services, and we are brought to the harbour. All the boats are lined up, but our lady’s boat is currently with tourists, so it’ll be here in “one minute, one minute”. Everything is rush-rush, everything is “here, I’ll give you this so you can’t run away, you have to use our services now”. The girls are suddenly holding our lanterns, which we have to bring onto the boat to make our wishes. It’s so very rushed!
We walk along the harbour and take in the crowds. The restaurants, the souvenir shops, the boats, everyone is shouting at you in all directions. Finally I say yes to a seller, and end up with this:
The Japanese covered bridge is beautiful though. It’s small and at the end of the pier, take a right to find it. Joe tries to tell me the big flashy, crossing to the rest of the restaurants, all lit up in neon lights is the Japanese “covered” bridge. He tries to tell me the bridge isn’t supposed to be covered. It’s a good thing I’m the superior navigator in the family…
And then Maylin says “Mom, I need to go pee”. We’ve passed opportunities on our way here, but of course, once it’s necessary, they’re nowhere to be found. And that is how we chose our coffee shop for dessert! There’s a big bright WC sign at the end of the café, and suddenly we’re staying for dessert.
After dessert, we walk back towards the tour bus. The ride back into Da Nang is about 40 minutes, and we drop off the other travellers and even our tour guide on the way back to our hotel. The driver goes straight to our hotel, because it’s closer than the official drop off point anways. It’s 9.30pm by the time we get back, and we quickly shower and head to bed. Tomorrow’s adventure has a painfully early start!