HCMC and off to Hoi An

The skies over HCMC are smiling on us as we finally get to see and experience the great city itself. With its maybe twelve million people, it is a busy, bustling place, the roads crammed with ever-honking motorbikes.

During one long wait at traffic lights, our guide Tuan takes an opportunity to teach us some Vietnamese words. We obediently practice one we hope to use often: Xin chio (hello) which seems to sound like Zin Chow. Another important one is C'm on (thank you) which we anglicise to Come on! Later, to the patient and understanding Vietnamese people we try it on, despite our dreadful accent, it seems to at least be intelligible. 

First stop is the Reunification Palace set in lovely landscaped grounds. It's a hot morning and by the time we climb several flights of stairs (and tour some of the opulent public rooms) and then descend even more flights back down into a bunker-like basement, some of us are feeling, well, quite faint.

Unfortunately the next stop was not for the faint-hearted either. The History Museum (or War Remnants Museum) brings back the all too recent history of the last war in this country, called by the Vietnamese, the American War.

Nine years ago on our last trip to Vietnam, I toured this museum and was brought to tears by pictures which underlined the youth of the victims on both sides, the cruel acts and what I feel is the futility of war itself. Unable to see how a second exposure could benefit me, I and a few of the ladies on the group decide to take a walk. Interestingly the street we choose is lined with shops all selling the same thing. Safes and padlocks!

As luck would have it, though, we also find a delightful coffee shop - with excellent air-conditioning! I indulge my newfound love of Vietnamese drip coffee, and the others revel in the fact it belongs to the Snowee chain and have long cool icy drinks.

Back on the bus and we are taken for a scenic (and understandably slow - remember all those bikes) tour of the city, passing the glorious Notre Dame Cathedral which we'd seen the previous afternoon, and other public buildings, many painted the popular buttercup yellow and built favouring French architectural styles

One of the souvenirs most tourists bring back from Vietnam is lacquer-ware and we are soon privileged to take a tour of a lacquer making factory. It's amazing how many processes are used to build up that rock-hard mirror-shiny glaze, and how may wonderful pictures and designs can be created using this technique.

We see everything from chests of drawers, occasional tables, paintings and ornaments to vases and jewellery boxes. The Vietnamese seem to be a nation of elegant and classy artists, able to create beautiful goods in a variety of mediums. 

We discover that lacquering is not easy work, and the strong chemical smells must make working with these products very unpleasant for those who do it day after day. We're glad to escape into the showroom and its bewildering range of options. To the people of this country, there is nothing that is impossible. You want a lacquered dining table? You need it for Australia? No problem. It can be shipped. Even the prices, when we now consider the length of time and level of expertise needed to create each item, are very low.

By now it is lunch time so we head for the Pho Xua or 'ancient town' restaurant for lunch - a relatively quick one - as from here we are to travel to the airport to catch the plane for Hoi An, about halfway north along the country's eastern coast. However, a 'quick' meal in Vietnam is still several courses. So an appetiser of banana blossom arrives as soon as we are seated. It is prepared with morning glory (a favourite green in this country) and pork comes with magnificent crisp rice breads thickly studded with black sesame seeds.

Next a spring roll of avocados and rice noodles, cut almost like sushi, then a delicious main course of grilled chicken with julienned lemon leaves (delicious!) and fried sticky rice patties. Then stewed fish and pork in a clay pot as well as stir-fried cove bean with mushrooms. When the rice arrives we recognise it as the local code for 'the meal is almost finished'. This time it is different. The rice has been cooked with sesame seeds and steamed in a flat banana leaf parcel. It is sipped open at the table and instantly releases the most amazing nutty aroma.

Only one more dish - a departure from the more common pieces of fruit. Today we have a creme caramel that is silky and delicious.

After an hour's trip we land at Danang, (Da Nang) Vietnam's third-largest city after HCMC and Hanoi. It has a population of a million and increasing almost as you watch. Immediately we have picked up our bags we are driven north from Danang to Hoi An, about 45 minutes away, where we are to stay the next two nights.

The number of resorts and golf courses and condominiums and developments lining the highway are jaw-dropping. Tuan describes Danang as a "very developing city" and we can see he is right. Some houses are priced at US$1m - some even with their own piece of beach - and all this in a country where the monthly wage is $150 or less. This area is obviously geared to become a world playground, with people from the former fishing villages being paid to leave so more development can take place.

So it is with a small sigh of relief that we enter the lovely time-capsule of Hoi An with its narrow streets and ancient houses. Its old name, we are told came from two words Peaceful and Meeting and we feel instantly calm again just hearing that.

Better still, the old town is a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site and it will stay this way. By now it is night, time to check in and prepare for dinner.

Day three ended with a lovely meal at a restaurant called Cau Do Red Bridge, riverside we presumed but so dark and drizzly it was hard to tell. We later discover the river in question is, of course, the Hoi An River. The restaurant, like many places in Hoi An, also presents cookery classes.

The meal made up for the conditions though and we relaxed at last, comfortably seated outdoors in big cane armchairs filled with cushions.

Vietnamese love to roll tasty fillings inside something else. This time to begin with the ubiquitous spring rolls were replace by beef, peanuts and soya sauce wrapped in 'lot' or wild betel leaves. Truly delicious. This was followed swiftly as is the case for groups in these restaurants with salt and pepper squid with chilli dipping sauce, and grilled turmeric shrimp wrapped in banana leaves, made even better by the addition of shredded coconut and daikon.

Finally, chicken breast strips stir-fried with cashews, Vietnamese basil and chilli jam (yum!) arrived with rice and mixed greens (morning glory, we suspected to which we were becoming a little addicted) and the chaser of choice in most places, fresh fruit.

Back then to our accommodation at Ancient House River Resort, too dark to see the river, but a lovely open plan room and best of all after a long day - a wide inviting bed.