Hoi An

Our drive from Hue to Hoi An took forever; as Marc said at one point, it felt like we were going in slow motion. Our driver seemed to forget to push the gas pedal, and he also took every opportunity to pull over for us to have a photo of some bit of scenery. It was interesting to stop at the sand bar where oysters are cultivated on old tires, and also very beautiful, with the sky and water merging into the same color. He offered to stop so we could see the bunkers -- French and American and Vietnamese. He seemed confused when we said we didn't want to see them. The best I could say was that they made me sad, because how do you even begin to talk about that war with a young man who doesn't speak much English, who lives in Hue? How do you know what side his family fought on? The Americans left enough pain behind on both sides. When we said we didn't want to see them, he said that he'd driven an American man who came to Vietnam only to see the bunker because his friend died in the war.

As we hit Danang, we were appalled to see the transformation into a Miami Beach kind of place, and it continued all along the river right up to Hoi An. One giant international hotel after another, all along the river. It made our hearts sink, and we didn't know it yet but it was a sign of the changes we'd find in Hoi An.

Our hotel was on the beach, just outside of the main part of town, and we'd been looking forward to it as a respite from Hoi An. But oh it was just awful. The beach was not a nice beach, and it was so crowded -- intimations of crowds to come. The hotel itself was not at all our kind of hotel, and the beachfront restaurants were just gross. We ate lunch at one and were treated rudely, and the food wasn't good. A large table of Chinese were seated next to us, and when they left it looked like the wreckage after a hurricane, with food all over the floor and table and seats, and so much trash and mess I couldn't even imagine where it all came from. So we took a cab into the old town of Hoi An to look around, escape our hotel, and get some dinner.

We expected Hoi An to be a tourist attraction, but we just had no way of imagining what it has become. It's like Disneyland, so full of tourists that you can't even see anything. The little bridge was packed full, the sidewalks were choked, large tour groups from America, France, Germany, and China. We were disgusted. A friend from Melbourne who also loves Vietnam said that the last time she and her family were in Hoi An, three years ago, they'd also referred to it as Disneyland. She said it's less crowded in the mornings, but the stores have transformed into shops for tourists, so we didn't even want to return the following morning.

But we were there and needed dinner, and all the restaurants seemed to cater exclusively to tourists, so we consulted our restaurant app and Marc found an Indian restaurant that seemed potentially OK. After all, those tour groups of giant crowds were there for their "authentic Vietnam experience"! It was a quiet restaurant with friendly, smiling wait staff, and we had amazing food. I got my standard favorite, chana masala with garlic naan and Marc got a fish curry of some kind, and it was the best Indian food we've ever had. The next best Indian food we've ever eaten was in Nha Trang, when we were there in 2005. Who'd have thought? It was much better than any Indian food we ever ate in India.

We'd planned to spend three nights in Hoi An but we were so appalled that we wanted to leave. Marc found a different hotel nearby and got us a reservation, but we finally decided we just wanted to leave Hoi An completely. When Marc talked to the manager, she was surprised and kind of horrified that we were so unhappy. She said of course we shouldn't stay if we didn't want to, and she wanted to understand why we were unhappy. We told her that it just wasn't our kind of place any more, and I mentioned the giant tour groups and she seemed to understand. When I told her we'd been there in 2005 and it was so different, she smiled a sad smile. So we scooted on down to Can Tho for a two-night stay, even though we were planning to be there later in our trip too. Marc was able to change our flight with some difficulty, and with everything we read about VietJet we were a little surprised that it went as well as it did. No problems at the airport, no problem with the airplane or flight, it left on time, and was a perfectly great experience.