Day 7 - June 10 - Hoi An

On our way out of Hue this morning, we visited several of the King's tombs. The first picture is from the tomb of Tu Duc "The Humble King" in a more traditional Oriental style amongst a lake and gardens. This King's rule was particularly bad for Vietnam so he included a tablet with a list of his mistakes near his tomb, including overworking laborers to build it. The next tomb was for Khai Dinh, a puppet King of the French. He spent a lot of time in Europe and thus, has more European inspired architecture surrounding his tomb. As opposed to the drab concrete slab of the Tu Duc, Khai Dinh's is very oppulent.

Further stops on the way to Hoi An included China Beach, a former American air base, and Marble Mountain along with a large shop that had many sculptures from the rocks of the mountains. It was particularly interesting to get the viewpoint of another member of the tour who served in the US Air Force in Vietnam. He had his 40 year old service hat (with patches) with him and had landed and served at the air base.

Our afternoon was spent touring the town that served as a Chinese and Japanese sea port and trading post in the 16th to 18th centuries. It is a unique combination of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese cultures. The Japanese covered bridge above is the symbol of Hoi An. It was built to connect China town on the left of the river with the Japanese on the right. We toured most of the city by cyclo (rickshaw pushed by bicycle) and saw several temples (where Theresa's mom continues to pray for a daughter in law and a grandchild) and old trading houses.

After dinner, we walked to the old market and window shopped (and bought some trinkets) before heading back to our hotel, the Hoi An Hotel, the oldest upscale hotel in the city.