Here’s the belated report about Day 4 of the Vietnam adventure, which included visits to the Marble Mountains and the historic city of Hoi An. We used our driver, Tom, for transport to both locations. A guided tour of the Marbles might have been worthwhile, and we didn’t have nearly enough time to do Hoi An proper justice. If the occasion should arise that I make a return trip to this area, I’d like to spend a night or two in Hoi An. Rumor has it that there are quite a few expats residing there. I took a shitload of pictures in both locations, here’s a taste of what I saw:
Some random shots from inside the cave:
We escaped the hounds of hell and made our way back outside, where our driver awaited. Then we took a pleasant drive to the city of Hoi An.
We opted not to do a coconut boat tour.
Of course, we felt obligated to buy some of her fresh fruits. I guess her strategy worked.
And then something weird happened. A white guy on a scooter with a Vietnamese girl on the back pulled up and started chatting with me. Just friendly banter, where are you from, how long are you staying? Seemed innocent enough.
Both do promotion work for the Karma Group, which apparently operates hotels, including one in Hoi An. Steve asked if we’d like to participate in a free drawing, and I shrugged, saying, Why not? He handed us both a ticket. I opened mine and won a free ball cap.
Then it was Swan’s turn, and when she opened hers, Steve said excitedly that she had the grand prize ticket.
Of course, there is always a catch. To find out which she won, we had to go to the Hoi An Karma hotel. Then, to collect the prize, we had to sit through a one-hour presentation (about what, I never got a clear explanation). They wanted to drive us to the hotel right away, but we declined, saying our driver was waiting for us. What I didn’t say was that there was no way I was getting a ride from two strangers; I’ve heard stories about people being disappeared. As much out of curiosity as anything, I told them I’d have our driver take us to the hotel. They reluctantly agreed, and Steve took off on his scooter. The gal walked with us to meet my driver.
On the way to the hotel, I told Swan I’m sure her prize would be revealed to be the free hotel stay. When we arrived at the Karma and the ticket was scratched, I was proved right about that. And then there was some confusion. We had agreed to a one-hour presentation, and fifteen minutes later, nothing had happened. Swan told the Karma representative that we needed to leave by 1 p.m., and the rep went and made a phone call. When she returned, she told us that there was not enough time, so the prize would be voided. I said, ‘Okay, we arrived at 12:30; we’ll stay until 1:30,’ and the rep said that still wasn’t enough. We needed to spend one hour with the person making the presentation. I smelled a rat and said, Never mind. We’ll go. The rep apologized and gave us a 500,000 dong voucher ($19) for a local Da Nang restaurant.
Anyway, I’m still curious what the presentation topic was going to be about, most likely some investment scheme—no big deal on missing out on the big prize.
An uneventful trip back to Da Nang, but I did have my driver show me a place to get the Vietnamese Bahn Mi delicacy. When it was time to eat, we hoofed it over there. It’s a few blocks off the main beach road and surrounded by other restaurants, almost all of which are Korean.
The sandwich was fine, but as I recall, I enjoyed the one I tried in Saigon more. We strolled back towards our hotel on the side streets to see what we could see.
And that was our day. Hopefully, I’ll get to Day 5 later this afternoon. Now it is time for a walk and some lunch at Missteak.
Stay tuned!
Oi gwapo,
You’d better go to the final of the International Fireworks Festival at the riverfront (around 2km from where you are) tomorrow night, or I will smack you on the buttocks!! It is China vs Vietnam.
Additionally the dragon breathing fire on the Dragon Bridge is a lot of fun….starts from 9pm on Fri, Sat and Sun nights…..don’t stand too close, or you get soaked with water at the end.
xoxo
Should I stay or should I go?
Did you recognize the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac there (stone “railing”)?
Going back down was even scarier than the climb.
Good job. I would’ve needed my trekking pole.
I can’t read what it says, and I’m too lazy to do a Google translate
On your phone, the Translate app has a “camera” button. Hit the button, point the camera at the text, and the translation will appear right over it. I just now copied the image and fed it through the “image” setting on my iMac desktop’s Google Translate, and the text says: “HERE IN AUGUST 1968, THE QUANG DA 44 FRONT COMMAND ESTABLISHED A FORWARD SURGERY STATION (FIELD STATION) TO SERVE THE 1ST BATTALION (R20) OF THE 3RD HOA VANG ARMY REGION AND THE 3RD DA NANG ARMY, CONTRIBUTING TO THE VICTORY OF THE AUTUMN 1968 CAMPAIGN (CODE NAME X2) ON THE QUANG DA BATTLEFIELD.”
Beats me.
Definitely Buddhist-flavored, but the six-spoke wheel is odd. Normally, the symbol is an eight-spoked wheel, representing the Buddha’s Fourth Noble Truth, a.k.a. the Eightfold Path—the practice that leads you toward liberation/bliss/fulfillment/extinction (nirvana, “blowing out”—like a candle flame): right views, right intentions, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. You’ll have to ask someone what the six-spoked wheel means. There’s also the huge lotus flowerpot, the wooden box for offerings/donations (you see a lot of those in Korea), and the dragons guarding the figure sitting in front of the spoked wheel. I don’t think that’s the Buddha, who is never depicted wearing headgear. Maybe a bodhisattva? Maybe some divinity (possibly non-Buddhist…?)? Anyway, he’s sitting on a lotus flower, too. The LED lighting on the wheel is tacky yet apropos for a tourist site.
Still impressive, even without a clue.
Those don’t look Buddhist at all. Celestial deities from Chinese religion…? Was this some kind of multipurpose, multi-religion space?
Okay, that’s a little creepy.
Reminds me of a Korean temple guardian—maybe one of the Four Heavenly Kings (사천왕/sa cheon wang). The statue looks as if it had held a weapon or staff or torch once. Who knows where that went? If the face looks demonic, that reinforces the idea that this is some kind of guardian or protector—a tutelary divinity.
What the hell?
Yes, indeed: these are visions of hell. In Buddhism, hell isn’t a permanent state, and neither is heaven. In hell, you burn off your bad karma and then perhaps are reborn into this earthly realm; in heaven, there’s a risk that you’ll enjoy the celestial delights so much that you’ll end up boomeranging down into hell to pay for your laziness. In Indian religions, the goal isn’t heaven: it’s to get off the wheel of samsara completely. Heaven and hell are just part of the wheel. Samsara is the painful wheel of existence: sure, it’s that “do-over life” you keep insisting on, but you don’t benefit from the accrued wisdom of previous lives. That said, the karma from previous lives determines what your status will be in the next life. And so it goes, over and over and over, and if you don’t make the effort to learn the lessons you ought to learn, it’s like stupidly banging your head against a stone wall. The only time you’re wasting is your own. That’s why you can’t wait passively for a do-over life: you have to work out your salvation with diligence in this life.
So people who say that Buddhism promotes a nothing-matters nihilism really don’t understand the Buddhist message. The Buddhist message isn’t, “If you fuck up this time, it’s OK because there’s always next time,” it’s more like Groundhog Day: “If you keep fucking up, you’re gonna remain trapped here until you fucking learn. And if you never learn, well, you’re here for all time, imprisoned by your own stupidity (avidya, blindness/ignorance).” There’s no angry God judging and punishing you: you’re punishing yourself. That’s one reason why Buddhism says the present moment is so precious. Now is the time to live life right and work toward salvation.
Okay, I’ve seen enough!
I wonder if that image is of the Four Passing Sights. The story goes that, when Siddhartha was a young prince, his father the king shielded him from the harsh truths of the world, but Siddhartha contrived to escape from the castle compound several times, and he saw four things: an old man, a sick man, a dead man (funeral cortege), and a serene Hindu monk. He came to understand that old age, sickness, and death are part of the human condition, but the monk’s serenity pointed him to the idea that maybe there was a way to face these harsh realities and still experience bliss, and this is what started Siddhartha on his path to bodhi (awakening), to becoming the Buddha (the Awakened One). He first fell in with some hardcore ascetics, practicing so hard that “I put my hand on my stomach and could feel my spine.” But he found no fulfillment in this extremity. He became a pleasure-seeking hedonist (but not fat like Podae!), yet he still found no fulfillment. He then sat down to meditate under what is now called “the bodhi tree” and kept at it until he reached enlightenment. The Devil (Mara) came to tempt, distract, and scare him (as did the Devil’s sexily satanic daughters), but Siddhartha remained focused. Upon his enlightenment, he touched the earth, calling it to witness his attainment, and the earth rumbled, scaring the Devil away.
You see a lot of statues showing the Buddha with one hand touching the earth, symbolizing the moment of his enlightenment (example).
That’s more than you wanted to know, but if you internalize this comment and the previous one, you’ll have learned a lot more about Buddhism than many Westerners.
Along the way, Tom wanted us to see a place called the Coconut Forest.
I think the English name for that kind of round boat is “coracle.”
It turns out that Hoi An is famous for its Banh Mi sandwiches. We weren’t hungry yet, though.
Excuses, excuses.
So, she won either an Apple iPhone, seven nights’ accommodation at a Karma hotel, or six million dong ($250).
Well, what self-respecting woman wouldn’t want six million dong? (It’s probably pronounced more like “nong.”)
I smelled a rat and said, Never mind. We’ll go. The rep apologized and gave us a 500,000 dong voucher ($19) for a local Da Nang restaurant.
Well, you know, you’re tourists. Therefore suckers in their eyes. Same everywhere.
Missteak (another weird name for an eatery)
They really need to work on their branding strategy if they’re aiming for Westerners. Dirty Fingers? Poison Coffee? Missteak?
I’d never seen plants growing on the side of a high rise before.
That looks pretty awesome.
I hope the rest of the day has turned out well. I’m glad you had a banh mi, but I think this is my first time hearing that you’d had one before in Saigon. Did I miss your first banh mi experience? Was it something I glossed over in my senility? Something I’d forgotten? Ah—a blog search reveals you had your banh mi in 2019. Back then, you were spelling it “BAHN-mi,” not “BANH-mi.” The “H” comes last. And yes: I saw, in that post, the Vietnamese sign that also misspelled the term as “bahn.” That don’t make it right, hoss.
Well, happy vacationing. Already Day 5!
I would imagine the Vietnamese are as excited about the new Bieber as we are. See how much Bieber t-shirts are while you’re. Could be massive savings for your wardrobe.
I haven’t heard a thing about that, Roger. Maybe the news isn’t Justin.
Dr. Greg, we are doing a dinner cruise on the river tonight that includes the fireworks show and the fire breathing dragon.
Kev, Damn, I didn’t make the Zodiac calendar connection. I’m such an unobservant dunce sometimes.
Not how much a trekking pole would help on those narrow and uneven steps. I used my hands on the ground in places.
Thanks for the translation. At least I guessed right. I’m told the American airbase was within hearing distance from the tunnel.
Yeah, I figure it was probably one of those “timeshare” type things. I fell for that a couple of times when I was a younger man.
At least I’ve been consistent with my bad spelling over the years. No matter how you spell it, it’s a good-tasting sandwich. Maybe it’s the French connection. I also enjoy the French Dip.
I do appreciate the Buddhist lessons. It’s an interesting religion. I’m not a believer, but it sounds like I’m gonna be screwed if they have it right. Damn, my do-over idea of heaven turns out to be hell defined. Now what?
Got to love the matching T-shirts. LOL
I am guessing that was Swan’s idea and not yours? 😛
Yeah, Brian. She is such a copycat!
My friend has a timeshare with Karma. invest a few thouand USD, get x free nights at theor resorts (europe, SE Asia, India), and then get your money back after ten years. She seems pretty happy with it.
Daeguowl, Okay, then my guess was right. I’ve owned timeshares in the past and lost money on the deal. Glad to know that Karma is legit. That also explains why the Karma “hotel” in Hoi An wasn’t really a hotel, but more of a rented timeshare situation.