In Hoi An now. Now THIS is a town worth visiting...unlike Da Nang, which is horrible. To be fair, my bad feelings (OUR bad feelings, since pretty much all of us feel this way) are mostly about the hotel. No internet in the hotel, even though they told us they had it. Some really dodgy payment procedures for laundry and drinks. Copious cigarette smoke and flies in the breakfast room. And all they had was pineapple jam! I mean, really. Who lives like that?!
We arrived in Hoi An (not to be confused with Hanoi) yesterday mid-day, and it's night and day to Da Nang. This is a beautiful little town with an old-town city center that wasn't damaged in the war--one of the few such places in the country. Also, this is the first time on the trip we've been in a hotel with a swimming pool. That's a pretty nice way to get away from the heat here. Would've been nice in Hue. Oh, well. Matt also appreciates all the 20-something tourists in their bikinis.
Speaking of European tourists, let me tell you about the tour Steven, Matt, and I took to My Son this morning. (Looks like "my son," pronounced "mee sone.") My Son is an ancient ruin site about 30km to the west of Hoi An. I couldn't tell you when it dates from because our tour guide's English was opaque. I could make out about every third word, barely, and the overall ideas of what he was trying to say eluded me. However, this much I think I got: My Son is a ruin from the Cham culture, which dominated large parts of southeast Asia hundreds of years ago (root of the word "Cambodia"). I think this is the same culture that created the temples at Angkor Wat. The architecture at My Son is very similar to Angkor Wat. There were aspects of Hinduism visible in the ruins, which surprised me because I didn't realize that Hinduism ever reached this far east. At any rate, they were beautiful and very old, everything a good ruin is supposed to be.
There was one area within the ruins, which are really several separate sites all within about 1 km of each other, that had collapsed from nearby U.S. bombing during the war. Then, walking through the ruins, we saw several signs saying that such-and-such excavation/restoration/presentation had been made possible by contributions from various countries: Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Japan, Australia. I know a few of you might get your hackles raised by what I'm about to say, but I have to say I'm a little ashamed of this. The basic model since the beginning of the Cold War seems to be that we destroy things, and other people sort it out. There have been several times in VN when I've seen some indication somewhere that something was funded by a certain country or group or individual within a country. All over the OGCDC offices, for instance, every piece of equipment that was donated has a little note on it saying who donated and showing that national flag. Rarely, very rarely, have I seen the US flag or the US mentioned as a donor for some worthwhile cause here. I know there are plenty of examples of US aid going to good work elsewhere in the world, but the amount of US foreign aid overall is so paltry it's barely worth mentioning. I mean, can we really not beat out Poland?! Honestly. But enough with that heavy stuff, back to the tour.
After walking through the sweaty jungle all morning, we got back in the van for home with the other people on the tour, a mix of Dutch, Danes, and Germans. When we got in the van, we were all hit like a wall with a deeply pungent armpit smell. Now, our whole group got plenty sweaty in vans around Hue, and we never smelled anything like this. Foreign aid be damned...Americans just smell better than Europeans. They stunk, bad. So the next time a European gives you a superior cultural air, just let them know that Americans just smell better, with or without Chanel 5.
Stu
There was one area within the ruins, which are really several separate sites all within about 1 km of each other, that had collapsed from nearby U.S. bombing during the war. Then, walking through the ruins, we saw several signs saying that such-and-such excavation/restoration/presentation had been made possible by contributions from various countries: Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Japan, Australia. I know a few of you might get your hackles raised by what I'm about to say, but I have to say I'm a little ashamed of this. The basic model since the beginning of the Cold War seems to be that we destroy things, and other people sort it out. There have been several times in VN when I've seen some indication somewhere that something was funded by a certain country or group or individual within a country. All over the OGCDC offices, for instance, every piece of equipment that was donated has a little note on it saying who donated and showing that national flag. Rarely, very rarely, have I seen the US flag or the US mentioned as a donor for some worthwhile cause here. I know there are plenty of examples of US aid going to good work elsewhere in the world, but the amount of US foreign aid overall is so paltry it's barely worth mentioning. I mean, can we really not beat out Poland?! Honestly. But enough with that heavy stuff, back to the tour.
After walking through the sweaty jungle all morning, we got back in the van for home with the other people on the tour, a mix of Dutch, Danes, and Germans. When we got in the van, we were all hit like a wall with a deeply pungent armpit smell. Now, our whole group got plenty sweaty in vans around Hue, and we never smelled anything like this. Foreign aid be damned...Americans just smell better than Europeans. They stunk, bad. So the next time a European gives you a superior cultural air, just let them know that Americans just smell better, with or without Chanel 5.
Stu
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