4:30 in the what???

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Trip Start Jul 08, 2009 Previous
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  Hoi An, Vietnam
Saturday, July 25, 2009

I took the sleeper bus to Hoi An which was interesting. The bus has two levels of beds top and bottom. All the westerner travelers were on top and the locals were on the bottom. The beds are small and there's really no room for your bag. Luckily I have a place that I created for mine but other people who are over 6 foot had serious problems.

I found a hotel for $14 a night with internet (not wifi) and a swimming pool. It gets so hot here by mid day all you want do to do sit and relax in a pool. I went out and am having some clothing made. I hope I picked some good stores. There are over 200 stores here that will hand make whatever you want. Dresses, suits, pants, kimonos, anything you want.  

Two days ago at 4:30 AM my alarm goes off. It was time to get up and start my day even though it was still dark outside. For $15 USD I hired someone to take me to My Son, Marble Mountain and China Beach.  At 5 AM the sun was already starting to rise so we pulled over to the side of the road to watch the sunrise over a small lake. It was beautiful.  We watched the fisherman catching fish in the sunrise. It seems almost magical.

We arrived at My Son shortly after. My Son is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century A.D. by the kings ofChampa (Chiêm Thành in Vietnamese). The temples are dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva as he is known under various local names, the most important of which is "Bhadresvara."  It was nice, but really small. I met some other travelers last night who said that if you plan on seeing Angkor Wat that its not worth it to see My Son. I haven’t seen Angkor Wat yet but have seen Tikal in Guatemala and Machu Picchu in Peru and this was soooo small. 

From there we went to Marble Mountain which is a cluster of five marble and limestone hills located in Ngu Hanh Son ward, south of Da Nang city in Vietnam. The five 'mountains' are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). All of the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of one of the peaks. Several buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains, making this a famous tourist destination. The area is famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts. Direct rock extraction from the mountains was banned recently.  But everywhere in town they are molding and shaping different pieces of marble. It’s really amazing to see.  The temples and caves were really cool and I definitely recommend going if you’re in the neighborhood.

From the top of Marble Mountain you can see China Beach so of course my next stop is there. It was probably one of the nicest beaches I’ve seen in a long time. The sand was clean, the water was clear, and there were all but 4 people on the beach.  It was really cool because on the beach they have bamboo boats that are round. I’ve never seen anything like it before.

I’m back in Hoi An enjoying a fruit drink at a local restaurant and taking advantage of someone’s wifi internet. Hoi An is just like an old European City or Antigua in Guatemala without the coble stone streets.  The streets are filled with shops wanting to hand make any outfit of your dreams and then some. They have materials and magazines for you to look through to get ideas of what you want. Its very cute but its just so hot its has to be well over 100 degrees here.  Every time I go out to the stores or to see something I end up getting to hot and want to go back to the AC. I do have to admit, the people here are great. I am in one restaurant always taken advantage of the Hotel across the street but it almost seems like the restaurant looks forward to seeing me on my laptop.  In the morning I'll have my usual, pineapple shake for $.50 cents and fresh fruit with yogurt about $1.50. Its heaven. The main meals are also very very good. Many seafood dishes here as well. I had fresh spring rolls last night with fish and it was great. 

Tomorrow morning 8:45AM I take off and fly to Hoani and then hopefully off to Halong Bay the following day for a three day tour.

Thanks for all your comments and emails. I loved reading them.

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My Son	My Son butterfly	My Son	My Son butterfly
Marble Mountain	Marble Mountain Temple	Marble Mountain Temple	I climbed through that
Me with China Beach behind me	Prayer at Marble Mountain	China Beach	China Beach
China Beach Bamboo boat	China Beach

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