Week three marks halfway through our stay in Hoi An. There is so much to do and so little time. I went back to acupuncture on Monday. The kids dove into video editing at You Hub and gaming. We swam in the pool, and Michael and Lucas went to play pickleball. Michael played pool.
Tuesday is a big day because it is Jake’s 16th birthday! Vicki and Kristian surprised Jake by renting scooters. In Vietnam, the driving age for scooters is 16. The dads and Jake all took turns riding around the rice paddies. We also had a pizza pool party where Jake was the bartender.
On Wednesday, the kids went to You Hub. That evening, we went to the Hoi An Impression Theme Park. It is like a Renaissance fair with performances, workshops, and art. The Memories Show is the headlining act with over 500 actors and dancers performing 400 years of history on a 25,000-square-meter outdoor stage.
Vicki and I signed up for a vegan cooking class. It was just the two of us. We picked Quan Chay Nhat Da based on Google reviews. Ling owns the restaurant. She took it over from her parents. She has been vegan her entire life.
Ling took us to the market. She told us that people at the market get there as early as 3 a.m. They bring fresh produce from their gardens every day. She showed us different fruits and vegetables. She talked about cooking with Yin and Yang – hot balancing cold. We picked up fresh coconut powder to make fresh coconut milk. When we returned to the restaurant, we started preparing the food. We made a tofu coconut soup, spring rolls, rice pancakes, tofu with tomato sauce, and a mushroom salad. We had so much fun, and we learned a lot. Also, the food was delicious.
That evening, our hotel hosts cooked dinner for us. They prepared vegan and non-vegan food. We had soup, rice, chicken, tofu and salad. We are spoiled here in Vietnam with fresh, yummy food.
On Friday, Michael and Henry went with some of the other families to do a cultural tour of Coconut Village. They learned about rice farming, went for a bike ride, and took a spin (literally) in a bamboo basket boat.
While Michael and Lucas stayed in Hoi An, Lucas and I joined Vicki and Jake on an adventure to Hue. Hue is in the middle of Vietnam. It was the capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945. Jake read about an abandoned water park in Hue several years ago.
We arrived Friday afternoon. We ate another fabulous lunch at the restaurant, Cart on Wheels, and then spent the day walking around Hue. We visited the Imperial City in a walled enclosure within the citadel. Hue is the former imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty. It contains the palaces that housed the imperial family, as well as shrines, gardens, and villas. After the end of the monarchy in 1945, was damaged and neglected. The Imperial City was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and is undergoing restoration. Later that day, Lucas and Jake went to a movie while Vicki and I walked along the waterfront and ate dinner at Lien Hoa, a vegetarian restaurant frequented by monks. We clocked around 17,000 steps that day.
Saturday morning we got up early to beat the heat. We had pastries and fruit at a bakery, and then it was off to the water park. Ho Thuy Tien is eight kilometers from Hue’s city center. The water park has been abandoned for over a decade. There are rusty waterslides, a deserted lazy river, crumbling villas, and a giant metal dragon that rises out of the center of the dried-up lake. There is also a car that resembles Arthur Weasley’s Ford Anglia.
Our taxi driver drove us up to the gate that had a sign stating ‘No Visitors’. Our driver told us not to go because it was not safe. We went anyway. We thought there would be a guard at the gate, but there
was not. We walked right in.
We wandered down a road for about 4 minutes until we saw the first signs of the water park. A statue at the end of the road was our first glimpse. We explored the stadium where there used to be animal
shows.
On our way to the dragon. – the centerpiece of the water park, a man in a man on a motorbike stopped us and showed us a note that stated: ‘The park is closed. It is too dangerous, no visitors’. Jake offered him 20,000 Dong (less than $1) and asked if we could stay and take a few pictures. The man took the money and said okay.
We went inside and climbed to the top of the dragon’s mouth. We found the slides and the lazy river. Jake and Lucas were filming bits to make a short horror film. There was a woman on the grounds selling drinks. We spent about 2 hours exploring the park. As we left, more tourists were showing up. It is a unique experience.
