Teacher Getting Hit By Culture: January 2015

Hi All,

It's definitely been some time since this blog has seen some action. The end of 2014 has been rather busy and so I find myself playing a little bit of catch-up at the start of 2015. Probably what will end up being most interesting to you is a recap of the adventures from my Christmas break trip to Vietnam. Unlike with the other trips, the Christmas trip spanned two weeks and so we had quite a bit of time to take a more thorough look at Vietnam. We spend our first week of the break in central Vietnam, in the towns of Da Nang, Hue, and Hoi An. The adventures of the second week will be covered in a separate entry coming soon!

After arriving in Da Nang, we poked around a bit in the city, by walking through the downtown area. Da Nang provided a very authentic Vietnam experience and aren't as touristy as other cities in the country despite being the third largest city in Vietnam.

From Da Nang, we then took the train up the coast to the historically-rich town of Hue. Hue had a vibrant riverfront area, that served as a busy night-time marketplace after sundown. Most prominently featured in Hue is the Imperial City, home of the emperors of Vietnam spanning from the late 19th century until the end of the Second World War.

Our trip really took a remarkable turn at the end of our time in Hue, as we had decided to take a motorbike tour from Hue all the way down south to Hoi An through the Ho Chi Minh trail inland through the mountainous interior of Vietnam. Over the span of two days, we skirted through countless villages and a breath-taking views of the mountainous landscape. We had a taste of rural life in Vietnam and had several unique encounters with the locals that we met along the way. Just prior to arriving in Hoi An, we took a stop an abandoned military barracks on a lonely mountaintop and swung by the Marble Mountains outside of Da Nang to take a look at an amazing set of limestone caves with an equally impressive Buddhist temples housed throughout the monolithic mountain-side.

Arriving in the old town quarters of Hoi An from the motorbikes, we spent a few more days relaxing in the tourist filled beach town. While it wasn't the most ideal beach weather, we spend our time there exploring the old town, which was stunning especially at night time with lanterns that would float on the water and where parts of the old town quarters would be cut off due to the rising tide during the night. Our first day, we decided to have a change of pace and joined in with a cooking class. We were taken to the market to buy the ingredients before sampling some unique and sometimes bizarre dishes (ie. pig brain, silkworm salad...) before we threw on the aprons and cooked our own 4 course lunch. Our other full day in Hoi An was Christmas day and we just so happen to have a large amalgamation of the TIS community in Hoi An to celebrate with a Christmas lunch.

After a quick ride back up to Da Nang, we would embark on a short flight up north to the capital of Hanoi, where we would start the second leg of our Vietnam tour with stops in Hanoi, Sapa, and Ha Long Bay. Check the next entry to find out more about what we experienced there.