Hoi An South revisited

Monday, February 05, 2018
Hội An, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam
Anyone who has read any of my earlier blogs would know I have been following the progress of Hoi An South, the massive casino, condominium,golf course holiday resort. Another trip there yielded some new photos, but unfortunately it is protected now by a huge fence so a close approach is impossible. On the way back I got a few shots of the flower stalls at the foot of the Cua Dai bridge. Everyone buys yellow flowers at Tet time and every second one buys a cumquat tree. The flowers seem to be mainly the humble marigold but I have seen others the name of which eludes me.
Today as I had some banking business to do I looked up Commonwealth bank branches in Vietnam. The nearest one was in Dien Ban about 15 kms away, a nice easy ride and some new scenery I thought. The nice easy ride was a trip to hell and back over a crowded pothole and gravel infested highway, although there was only one "jesus, I'm dead" moment and a few "OH f**K" moments and a couple of "Oh no!" moments I made it there and back. I got to the spot which Google maps told me there was a bank and it was a large official looking building but no bank. I mean why would they have a branch in Dien Ban in the middle of nowhere in the backblocks between Hoi An and Danang? I met a young woman at the building and showed her my bank card and she pointed to a large factory complex down the street and said "behind". The factory was the Heineken brewery so my mind was telling me, ah yes the Commonwealth Bank must have an interest in the brewery so they have a special branch nearby. So I rode "behind" the brewery but no sign of a bank just more industries. So back to Google maps and it directed me back to the first building I went to. I gave up and turned tail for home for more adrenaline pumping fun.
Yesterday Tram invited me to another Tat Nien this time at her parents in laws to be house on An Bang beach. A Very modest house and land about 50 metres from the beach with the obligatory chooks pecking around the yard, a few coconut trees and a few tumble down outbuildings. The land by the way is worth $2000US per square metre down that way and it seems all around Hoi An its similar. The food was laid out on a table out the front with incense burning around it and the centre piece was a pigs head with a layer of caul covering it. Lots of young guys arrived and there was much toasting and guzzling going on. At first they asked me to sit down on the floor with them but I pointed to my knees and said sorry I can't so they brought out a small table and transferred some of the food from the floormat until my table was covered with dishes. Pigs legs in broth, curried chicked, rice of course, slices of fish, slices of pork, lettuce, other things which I didnt have a clue about and of course cans of Larue with ice. The pigs head was cut up and served later and it was very tasty too. I had a late breakfast but I did my best to do justice to the food although I went a bit weak on it as they kept on toasting me and I had to try to keep up with them, an impossibility against young Vietnamese guys. I made the excuse that I had to go outside for a smoke so I sat in the yard for a while with a can of Larue, I ended up have 4 cans of Larue brought out to me and lined up. No I didn't drink them. One of the guys there, Giang, said he went to school with Nhi and lived just down the street from My Le's shop. When I asked Nhi and showed her a photo she said she had no idea who he was and My Le said the same. A little mystery.
I've chucked in some extra photos, one showing the street food place I eat and and one for motobike people.
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Comments

Jay
2018-02-14

Looks like your having fun Les! I hope you found a bank eventually.

2025-02-08

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