Da Nang - Day 4

Thursday 10th April

Another hotel breakfast at 8am this morning before we all got into the bus and headed down the coast to Hôi An.

Hôi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Immediately there was an obvious influence of tourism in the area.  Westerners were everywhere and the streets were packed with people taking photos and people trying to get you to buy things everywhere you went.

It is a bit sad that tourism has had such an influence on this place, made more obvious to me/us by where we are staying and what we have obseved in Da Nang.  My immediate impression was that it feels a bit like Disneyland or another theme park in terms of atmosphere (which is contrary to the description of this blog which states that I will not be visiting theme parks on this trip).

The first activity we had to do was to go of in pairs to take photos of streets assigned to us. This will be involved in research into the site and how it might change over each year (each year the study group will take photos of the same streets).

Tom and I paired up and were assigned the first street we came across.  We took the required photos and then wandered off through the streets.

Hôi An is a World Heritage Site due to its culture and this status seeks to preserve it. However the increase in tourism due to this basically ruins the culture and you have a million tourist influenced shops and services pop up.

Japanese Bridge in Hoi An

We met some others and decided to grab some lunch. Unfortunately here they are making use of the influx of tourists and the prices are somewhat higher than back in Da Nang. 

Following lunch Tom and I ran into Scott and Marty and decided to wander around with them. We headed to one of the museum type buildings that we had tickets for, it was interesting because I guess it sort of portrays some of the original culture, but overall it wasn’t a very exciting room. We went back outside for more of look around and eventually ended up at a café.

From here we decided to give another museum a go, this one was a little better as it explained some of the origins of Hoi An, but it wasn’t presented in the same way it may have been in a museum in Australia.

Eventually we decided to get on a boat and cruise along the river to pass some time. This was actually a pretty reasonable idea as it gave us a good look at the surrounding areas of Hoi An, and some of the different living conditions outside of a town or city.

Studying

Marty left us after the ride to sit somewhere and do some reading while the three of us went to see what deals we could get on some things. I ended up buying some tailor made shoes to go with my new suit. This became problematic when the time the bus was coming changed to 30 minutes before I was supposed to pick the shoes up, and it was only by chance we again ran into Marty who informed us of this in time for me to go back and plead with the shoe ladies to get them ready earlier. In the end it all worked out fine and we made it to the bus when it left at 6:30.

Food market in Hoi An

Back in Da Nang, Tom, Scott, Matt, Phil and I headed out to get some Western food from a place a reasonable walk away. It was pretty weak that we were in need of some familiar food only a few days in, and it was more expensive than the usual Vietnamese food, but it was very decent food.

I realize that I may have been a bit cynical of Hoi An, but I have realized that so far not being a complete tourist has been a fabulous experience. It was even difficult to get involved in the touristy things today and to be seen as a tourist. So far we have been able to try our best to get involved in the culture which is basically what you need to do in Da Nang. They do not rely on tourism (yet) in Da Nang and so you are not pressured into buying things or bothered on the street. You are obviously different but there is a different atmosphere. It has been a bit of an eye opener today as to some of the implications of the tourism industry, and especially what it can do to a culture that is supposed to be preserved. There are certainly many more things to be learnt in our remaining time here.

-Nick