Birthdays and Valentines

It was Friday, 14 February, so both my birthday and Valentine’s Day.  When we drove into Hoi An the previous day, we passed a long boulevard lined with stalls selling huge, elaborate bouquets of roses and almost comically sized boxes of chocolates.  That already showed to me that Valentine’s Day has somehow propagated around the world.  Tony told us that men were expected to lavish their loves with such large tokens of appreciation.  In such a poor country, it struck me as such a waste, but maybe I’m not a born romantic.  😊 

This was an optional tour day, with many in group electing to do tours on their own.  The area is known for Marble Mountain, which involves a long cable car ride to the top of a mountain of solid marble, which features some stunning waterfalls.  The hiking is said to be extreme and the weather equally as unpredictable, so it is a crap shoot if you actually see anything.  As I wrote earlier, we signed up for the optional tour, which was a boat tour on the Thu Bon River, with visits to the Kim Bong artisan village.  After the tour, we traveled by bus to Trague Organic Village, where we had lunch, including an opportunity for us to cook.

Watch Out!  Look Who's Driving the Boat!

The morning was gray, with very low clouds.  We had a fine mist, almost fog like, for most of the morning.  We were able to stay dry on the boat tour, which brought us past many small fisheries, and we got to see singleton fishermen hauling in large nets using old-style wooden crane systems.  We traveled toward Da Nang, which sits on the South China Sea, and arrived at Kim Bong right as a proper rain started.  It was billed as an artisan village, and I thought it would be full of staged craft shops, but instead it was a small working village, in which all sorts of artisans worked, usually in small areas of their homes set aside for the task.  We visited a couple of wood carvers and artists, including one specializing in wood inlaid with mother of pearl.  Everything was done by hand, and we got to see how the artist would slowly and methodically press large oyster shells flat, to extract the mother of pearl inside.  We also visited a multigenerational home where they specialized in products made from rice paper.  We had already seen, and would continue to see during the trip, people on the sidewalk burning large bundles of paper in cans and small barrels.  It often looked like they were burning stacks of American money.  At this home we saw how they took rice water to make paper, and that paper was used to make counterfeit $100 bills, iPhones and gold bars made from paper; essentially, anything that looked expensive, they would make out of this very cheap rice paper paste, and then sell those for people to burn as offerings for good luck in those containers on the street. Using the same rice pulp, they also made rice noodles by hand, which are the main ingredient in the famous Pho soup.  It was all a little surreal and strange to watch, but interesting nonetheless.

We Saw Swastikas on a lot of Buddhist Idolatry

Fresh Catch From the River

Combination Butcher and Hair Dresser!

Hand Cutting Rice Noodles for Pho

Flattening Oyster Shell for Mother of Pearl

We took the boat back up the river to Hoi An, and then took the bus about 10 minutes to a so-called organic village.  We had to disembark at a large, and empty, parking lot, and then walk into the village, which was closed to all motorized vehicles.  The village was built around a multi-acre plot of land, on which all variety of organic produce was being grown.  Everything there was grown without chemicals of any kind, and all the cultivation and harvesting was done by hand.  The rain was steady now, and we all had to resort to umbrellas and/or rain coats, but we circumnavigated the plots of land until we reached a large open-air but covered restaurant, where we would have our lunch.  We were all given chef hats and aprons, and then watched as they cooked a traditional banh xeo, which is a crispy crepe fried with chicken and bean sprouts.  We watched as they demonstrated how to pour the rice batter into small saucepans, which we then covered with fried chicken and sprouts.  It involved a lot of fire and flipping the crepe by tossing the pan.  Of course, it looked easier than it proved to be, but I did take my turn and did enjoy the fruits of my labor. 

After we’d all had a chance to cook, we sat down, and the remainder of the multicourse meal was served to us.  The rain had since stopped and we watched as the sun slowly burned away the low-hanging clouds.  At the end of the meal, I heard a chorus of happy birthday break out, and I turned around to see Tony approaching with a huge and elaborately decorated birthday cake for me.  I was, of course, embarrassed, but still touched.  K had known it was coming, and I commend her for keeping the secret.  There was more than enough cake for everyone, and it was very tasty.  We noticed that none of the desserts in Vietnam were particularly sweet.  The cakes and pastries all looked amazing, and very French, but they were made with very little sugar, and any crème or frosting was usually devoid of most sweetener.  The cake was quite tasty, and in fact the lack of too much sweetness was welcome.

Chefs At The Ready

My Birthday Cake

Organic Farm After the Sun Came Out

We were back at our hotel by 1:30pm, which was good, as we had our second clothing fitting at 3:00.  I squeezed in a quick workout before the two of us headed back into the ancient city.  We shopped along the way, and our clothes were waiting for us when we arrived.  My shoes were not quite ready, but the cobbler arrived after I’d tried on the suits and shirts, so everything worked out.  They made final adjustments to all of our things, and then promised to have them delivered to the hotel by 10:00pm. 

On our walk back to the hotel, the sun was now out in full glory, so we found a riverside restaurant, where we enjoyed a few cocktails and some excellent spring rolls.  When we got back to the hotel, there was a knock on our door, and the hotel delivered a small birthday cake for me.  It was the perfect size for two people, but had both already had our fill of cake.  Still, it was very nice of the hotel to do that.

Another Birthday Cake; This From the Hotel

Late Afternoon Break

I had booked a Valentine’s dinner at a fancy resort on the tip of the island sitting across from old Hoi An.  It was walking distance, in the opposite direction, from our hotel, and we arrived right on time, managing to survive multiple street crossings along the way.  There was a table waiting for us, all decorated with a lot of heart paraphernalia, and personalized menus for us.  The food was good and plentiful, but the service was very slow and we were both extremely tired, so I don’t think either of us even touched the dessert.  We were instead more than ready to get back to the hotel, especially as we were leaving Hoi An in the morning, and had to get our bags ready to deposit outside our door.  We could not, however, close our bags until our new clothes arrived.  K was tired, so she went to sleep and I went to the lobby, to await the clothes courier.  I was nearly asleep on a couch when a motorcycle courier arrived with our packages, at almost exactly 10:00pm.  I grabbed the bags and sprinted upstairs.  In the half-dark room I managed to squeeze them into an extra bag we brought along, and then I collapsed into bed.

Our Valentine Dinner