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SEPTEMBER, 2011 INDIA TODAY SPICE SEPTEMBER, 2011 INDIA TODAY SPICE 69

NAMS ANGELSHISTORY AND CULTURE ARE THE RECURRING THEMES IN VIETNAMS LURE. YVETTE CARDOZO

ANDBILL HIRSCH TRACK THE HERITAGE TRAIL BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL TOURIST FOOTFALL.

TTRAVEL

Coloured lights shine on features in Surprise Cave(Hang Sung Sot) in Ha Long Bay in north Vietnam.

History is what binds Vietnam and enriches its flavour.There are cities like Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh Cityor just HCMC), with tall, modern buildings and a

crush of cars that look like any intensely crowded Southeast

Asian metropolis. Then there are places like Ha Long Bay andthe Old Town of Hoi An whose past defines them.

Ha Long BayBay of the Descended Dragonhas a red-hot ember of magic and a whisper of unquenched mystery

about it. It does draw the tourist set; one estimate says 300boats ply some three million visitors a year across these ancientwaters. Yet there is a way to dodge the hordes and descend di-rectly to the dragon.

Ha Long Bay is a scene of legend. Popular folklore says,aeons ago, when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese in-vaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend theland. The dragons belched out jewels and jade which turned

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SEPTEMBER, 2011 INDIA TODAY SPICE

TTRAVEL

One of the five famous Assembly Halls in Hoi An Fujian (PhucKien) erected around 1690. It functioned as a place for Chineseethnic groups from Fujian China to socialise and worship.

makeshift docks, toddlers wobbling about and boatscarrying groceries, wood, and even motorcycles.We stopped at a rock face with an arch, then climbed

into kayaks and paddled into a large lagoon ringedby convoluted limestone rock studded with ferns, bambooand palms. From the lagoon, we made our way downto Cat Ba. At the harbour, there were hundreds,no thousands, of floating houses, each with an address,some with TV antennas, a few with satellite dishesand one with a wind turbine. Shrimp boats werefestooned with football size electric lights.

We left Cat Ba town on an asphalt road which de-

volved into concrete that quickly shrank to the width of asidewalk and then turned to dirt. Onslos culture tour goesto the tiny village (population 36) of Lein Minh where youcan sit in a field and paint, learn how to make spring rollsat one small house or visit the village bee farm. It was a bitof a trek back to the Emeraude but worth the effort if onlyto watch a blood red sun slip behind the karst towers.

History again. It surrounds you in Vietnam if youknow where to look. And while Ha Long Bay is moremyth and scenery, places like Hoi An are solid time cap-sules. So when we were done with the bay, we headed forHoi An in central Vietnam, not far from Danang.

Travellers should understand that many parts of thisarea have surrendered to modern exigencies. NearbyChina Beach reside wall to wall mega-hotels and resorts.They are fine structures, but sadly sterile. And then, there

Chua Cau, the Japanese covered bridge in Hoi An;built on Bach Dang street around the 17th century

FACT FILEVietnam is 1610 km long and stretches from true tropics to

temperate, with temperatures well over 37 degrees centigrade

in the south in summer. October through March can be damp

and cold in the north. the best time to travel is through April,

May and October.

The Emeraude runs daily year round.

Contacts: Emeraude: www.emeraude-cruises.com

Asia Outdoors/Slo Pony Adventures: www.slopony.com

Life Heritage Resort Hoi An: www.life-resorts.com

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