settling in; Hoi An

We are making the best use of our days and now calculating our early to bed and early to rise times based on when the cafe across the road turns off its loud Vietnamese music at 10.30pm. This quiet also marks the sudden halt of the whizzing and beeping of the scooters zipping by. Then it all quickly fires back up at 6am, which is when all the hotel guests seem to rise and make their way to breakfast. Its funny to me that here the use of the horn is more like a bantering of conversation rather than an act of aggression. Even on the highway, where there is one lane for cars and one for scooters/bikes) a car can travel behind a truck and beep its horn for 1 minute straight before the trucker finally decides to slowly veer to the right. There is no frusteration or agrression between either the 'passer' or the 'passee' - its just common practice, as though they were just chatting with one another before moving on.

Today is our 3rd and last day in Hoi An; it is beautiful here and we have well contributed to the economy of the skilled tailors and shoe makers, and eaten very well with plenty of fresh seafood and spring rolls. Yesterday we took a 3 hour side trip to My Son which is about a 1 hour drive away. Its an amazingly beautiful site of Hindu temples built of bricks with figures carved into them which was built in about the 9th century. On the drive out there we passed thru small clusters of towns and by a surprising amount of cemetaries, or single/double graves which were raised above the rice patties. The burial sites look celebratory and resemble a well-tended brightly painted carnival.

I certainly feel like I'm on vacation as I find myself enjoying the traveling between places as much as I do arriving at the destinations. The 10.5 hour flight from San Francisco to Tokyo passed very quickly as I started a new novel (The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down) and watched the Michael Jackson documentary: This Is It. The 6.5 hour journey from Tokyo to Ho Chi Mihn City (HCMC) seemed like the right time to get some sleep. Luckily I was determined and small enough to curl up between the arm rests of my seat, and Nate (unbenownst to me) used me and my neck pillow as a cushion and we both were able to get some shuteye. There is no place I would have rather been. Traveling widens the boundaries of my mind and gives me new perspective on everything. My brain feels like its softening and my body feels like its unwinding into a new state of being.
We are so lucky to be taking this trip.

When we arrived in HCMC the sound and presence of all the scooters became more dense as we neared the city. Both Nate and I were relieved to see both scooter drivers and passengers wearing helmets, so it seems to be a law here though we have yet to see any law enforcement anywhere. In the day it became more evident that the helmet law doesn't apply to children who are either propped against or afixed to the front of the driver or sandwiched between as many adults as can fit on the seat. The max we've seen is a family of 5. The only universal precaution for both children and adults on the scooters is a cloth face mask which covers the nose and mouth, and comes in many different colors and fabrics. The face mask here, like in China, is a widely accepted fashion accessory.

Children seem to be very well loved and cared for here with their parents constantly laughing, hugging, and speaking with them. On the 6.5 hr flight into HCMC a woman had her 1 year old on her lap for the entirety of the trip and let him stretch from her arms over her stretch out crossed legs. The boy slept quietly for the entire flight and then woke up in time to deboard without a single peep.

Tomorrow we will try to have a quick bike ride to the beach before getting our things together and heading back to Da Nang to catch the train up to Hanoi. We leave at 1.30p and get into Hanoi at 4.30a (ouch). The first part of the trip, which will be in the daylight will be very scenic and goes along the coast. We are optimistically thinking the sleeper car will be sleepable...but will plan to keep our headlamps and novels close at hand in case it's not! Once we arrive we'll figure out our plan to get out to Halong Bay and see about taking an overnight boat to explore the phosphorescent waters there. The weather has been amazing, comfortable both day and night, so we'll see what its like in Hanoi which is a bit further north and probably cooler than here.

With any luck in Hanoi we will find a computer to download and post our photos.

I hope you are all well! Traveling and being in such different surroundings always reminds me of how much I have to be appreciative of in my life..especially my friends and family.

xo, Cinda