The Podehl Adventure: Last day in Hue, on to Hoi An

For as long as we were in a van yesterday, the cooler mountains of the DMZ and the AC in the van sure was a great reprieve from the Hue heat. On our last day here, we woke up a little later, and then intended a trip to the Dong Ba market. It was literally just across the river from us, but cost buckets of sweat.

Once again, there was a barrage of boat offers as we walked near the river, but we navigated with a steady, staccato "No, thank you." We crossed the river into the full morning of market activity.

Much like the roadways, there were bikes, motorcycles, and cargo on wheels. This just featured a narrower space and more fruit.

And a plethora of garlic.

Meredith even ventured to get some grapes.

As we exited, Mer commented on the strong smells. This market had a very similar feel to the Honduran ones I knew. Surely, mixing fruits, vegetables, fresh meat, and fish in 100 degree heat will only lead to a cacophony of aromas.

Then, we crossed the river back again fully drenched in our own sweat. We decided time on the water would be nice. Thankfully, we knew just where to look. We weren't on the opposite bank long before the familiar invitations started.

We just went for a 30 minute stroll down the Perfume River. The breeze and shade were nice.

As were the views.

And Meredith got to meet a dragon.

We then headed back to cool off and pack up. I bought some snacks and we walked the 5 long blocks to Sinh Tourist. I may have needed the AC inside, but Mer contently sat outside.

Soon enough, our bus came. Another sleeper, only this time we knew to sit on the bottom!

And this one featured more foot room too!

And I cracked into the snacks.

After about 2 1/2 hours, the bus stopped in Danang. We traded some passengers and then continued down the road to Hoi An.

By fortune, our hostel was only two blocks away from where the bus dropped off, although Tribee Hostel was a bit hard to locate. We checked in and were immediately told about the lesson on making spring rolls.

So we went to the top floor to learn. I was the only male for the majority of the time. But, there we were putting the mixings into rice paper. (Just like a burrito!)

They were then taken away to be fried.

And then the table was set for dinner. In order to eat our spring rolls, we had to wet another type of rice paper, put in some greens, some rice noodles, then the fried spring roll. Dip it in the fish sauce. And voilà! We ate our own dinner!

Quite enjoyable.

Around the table that night, we then heard about the Full Moon Festival that happens every lunar month. There was quite a buzz about it then and also as we stepped out into the packed streets.

It was a little odd to be exploring this city for the first time at night during a huge festival. Of course, the throngs of people made finding our way easy. We heard languages from all over while walking to the river.

Now this celebration happens roughly every month and it is customary to place a floating candle in the river for good luck. The area businesses along the river turn down their lights, so it's only the candles you light plus the full moon. Which means, the pictures will never do it justice. We just don't own the equipment to take good pictures. But here's what we did get.

The energy heading down was electric. I finally took this picture on the "walking only" section, which was great to not have to be whipping around looking for darting motorbikes.

There were temples, fine clothing stores, pagodas, silk stores, and others that were all displaying their candles, incense, altars, and lights.

Finally, we made our way to the river. The soft lights all around were amazing. There were many, many people selling the floating candles.

And we were told it all started around 8 pm, but there were already some on the water.

We mostly just watched for a long time. There were so many people, young and old, that kept shoving candles at us to buy, that we had to keep moving. On another side of the river, it was a bombardment of "You want boat ride?" It was a careful practice again if smiling during a "No, thank you."

However, we heard the assaults around us and eventually found a price ($1 for the candle, $5 for a boat ride) and bent to the pressure. It worked well to our advantage. Many competing candle vendors came and Meredith found a girl who offered half the price on the candles for two and then half off the boat ride. And the boat ride was very nice. On the water, we were away from the maddening crowd and the night became very peaceful.