October 1, Hoi An, Vietnam
This day centered around two items, a bike tour covering a couple of the islands around Hoi An and an acrobatics show.
Bike tour
Since our bike tour guide was going to show up at the hotel relatively early, we headed down to breakfast as they were opening, and our usual breakfast partners arrived not long after we did. The weather was pleasant and not too hot as we ate.
The bike tour guide had a taxi waiting for us and we rode to the bike shop to pick up bikes and helmets. After a few adjustments to some of the bikes, we were off. We were riding in a line, and it helped to be a big block of riders so scooters and cars could see us and go around. We went through back streets until we got to a small bridge the Cam Kim Bridge, which our guide called the Crazy Bridge. It had steel panels on the deck, but they made sounds as we went over them as if they were loose. We rode through Cam Kim until we crossed another bridge to Dong Binh. It was a mostly uneventful ride, except for one person who made a soft landing into a bush. Popping up, she took it in stride, saying that she fortunately had the whole thing on video.
Our first stop was to see how rice wine was made at a place called Mr. Dau. We then had samples of different wines including mulberry and banana. We then moved into a seating area where we met Mr. Dau, who lost a leg in the Vietnam War, so he turned to making rice wine. He played guitar and sang for us, and was quite good at playing.
We then walked across the street to see natural reed mats being made by hand. After watching them, we took turns doing a few rows. Our tour guide said that the mats are used for sleeping, and people replace them once a year at New Year’s.
It was back onto the bikes, and the last stop was a store which makes rice noodles. The process is to put some rice milk onto a hot skillet over a hot fire, put on a cover for about half a minute, then use a stick to move the cooked disc to a cooling mat. Once they’re no longer hot, the folded discs are placed onto a board and cut with a knife (although now they use a machine similar to a pasta machine, and we got to try that, too).
We then went to tables in the next room and were served crackers made with crisp, dried noodle discs (called rice paper) with a freshly-cooked noodle disc in the middle. Then, out came the noodles we made in a soup with pork.
After saying goodbye to the people at the shop, we rode a short way to a boat where we crossed the water to hop back on the bikes in Old Town. We rode the rest of the way to the hotel, and were all ready to take a break.
Teh Dar
The whole group was going to see a performance of Teh Dar at the Hoi An Lune Center for the Performing Arts, so it was time to head back towards Old Town. The first thing we did was find some ice cream, so we went back to the same place we were the day before.
Then it was time for dinner, so we went to a cao lầu shop, and ordered that. It consisted of pork and lettuce over a bed of noodles. What was interesting about the noodles is they were made of rice but were similar to smallish udon noodles. The texture, however, was closer to the firmness of ramen. In addition to slices of pork, there were also pork crisps which added a nice crunch.
After we finished dinner, we wandered over to eh Lune Center. As we got closer, we weren’t surprised to see a sculpture shaped like a crescent moon. The theater itself is in a large bamboo dome, which itself is very interesting to look at. After everyone was there, we went inside to find our seats. They were the lowest of the three tiers, but since the venue was pretty small, we all still had great views.
The show itself was a combination of music, dance, and acrobatics. The performance is set in the southwest highlands of Vietnam, and the music consisted mostly of drums, chanting, and a buffalo horn. Bamboo played a large part in the performance, with the bulk of the hour using long, thick bamboo poles. They were often climbed by the performers, sometimes straight up, sometimes crossed and leaned together.
After the the show was done, we went outside and saw that the performers drumming and dancing. Then the dancers sat down and they opened up a selfie line. Melody and I said goodnight, but as it ends up, the rest of the group got into the line after we left, so we missed out on the group photo with the cast.
As a consolation, we had a nice walk to the hotel along the river. Colorful lanterns were lit both along the sidewalk and in boats along the river. We walked by a lot of eateries with large groups of people having a great time eating and chatting. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were ready to wind down for the night.
