We flew to Danang from Hanoi and got to our hotel in Hoi An late in the evening. The hotel was wonderful - the rooms were individual villas with opening out onto the beach. The decor was ultra modern with lots of stone tiles and wood. We took a walking tour of Hoi An the next day. It is a place of commerce with a vibrant market and lots of attractive shops. I had a pair of sandals made. Once I chose the style and the leather, I placed my feet on a piece of plain paper and the assistant traced around my feet and took some width measurements. 5 hours later they were delivered to the hotel. There are over 300 tailor shops in the town and the claim is that you can show them a picture of what you want and they will make it up in 24 hours.
The main types of shops seemed to art shops, lacquer ware, wood carving, paper lanterns, leather and clothes. There were also some nice looking cafés/tea houses. The Vietnamese like to drink VERY strong coffee cold and with ice. Sometimes they add condensed milk.
The town has a river flowing through it and in the monsoon which usually hits sometime in Oct/Nov the roads adjacent to the river flood and the people have to use boats to get around (sounds familiar). We visited a house which had various markers to show how high the water reached in some exceptional years. In 1964 it must have reached nearly 7 feet from the floor of the house. In more moderate times it was between 4-5 feet deep.
The next day we left Hoi An to drive to Hue, the old Imperial City. In Danang we stopped off at the Cham museum. The Chams originated from India and used to occupy and rule south Vietnam. The sculptures were of Hindu gods. The Chams eventually were pushed further and further south by the Viet people and now there are about 150,000 near Saigon.
We stopped on the way for some coffee - we asked for it hot. What was presented was a small glass of their strong cold stuff but the glass was placed in a small bowl of hot water. It is not a particularly effective method! We visited a couple of tombs of the Nguyen emperors. Tu Doc reigned in the mid to late 19th century. He was definitely quite taken up with his final resting place as he designed it himself and once it was finished he used to bring his court out to the place and he had a royal house there, a few temples and a theatre. Once he passed away they kept his actual burial place a secret by executing everyone involved in the interment. The second tomb was that of Khai Dinh the penultimate emperor who died in 1925. He was given a very lavish set of buildings but not designed by him. Our guide told us that the emperor was not trusted as he liked to pluck his eyebrows, wear lipstick and paint his nails. We overheard another guide who was more explicit - he was gay, he said, and preferred the boys to the girls!
Today we visited the Imperial City (in the rain). The sight covers over 500 hectares. Most of it was severely damaged by the infamous Tet Offensive in 1968. However in 1992 UNESCO recognised its significance and have provided money for restoration. The work is underway but the pace is slow. The city was home to the Imperial Court, the army, the Mandarins, the concubines, the servants and the royal family. Joe public wasn't allowed in. Within the city lay the Fobidden City and only the emperor and his wife and concubines were allowed. Any man other than the emperor who entered was killed - that's a clear rule.
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