Not so Lonely Planet?
Hanoi -> Hoi An, 22nd
May 2002 (Part 2)
The final stop was at the Marble Mountain. A huge mountain where
marble is collected and dozens of workshops make & sell marble
sculptures. Our driver said we had 1 hour to explore, so I hopped
off in the direction of the path to the top of the small mountain.
Less than 10 seconds later, I was assaulted by half-a-dozen vendors
shouting "Come look in my store, just look ok". They were all
pulling me in different directions, so I had to jump in with a
strong "No Thanks" and walked away, looking straight ahead. One
insistent lady continued to follow me while the others went off.
"You want to buy marble?", "No Thanks", "Just have quick look?", "No
thanks","Come back later?","No sorry","Where you from?" "England","Ahhh,
Lovely Jubbly". I turned to look at her and laughed at this comment,
wondering where she'd picked it up from. The next second, another
lady started trying to get me into her shop. Again, she asked me
where I was from, and when I told her, she said "Lovely Jubbly" as
well. OKAY! Someone's been teaching them all 'humorous English
phrases', it was funny first time, but then they all started saying
it. As I walked off to the entrance to the mountain path, a lady
said "Oh, you won't have time, it takes 1 hour and a half to get to
the top & back. [She obviously knew we only had 1 hour here] Why not
have a look in my shop?". I thanked her and told her I was young &
fit and I could do it easily in less than 1 hour.
About 18 minutes later, I stood breathlessly at the top of the
mountain, surveying the view. It was quite good, but there were a
number of towers and other peaks obstructing the view. I'm not sure
it was worth the 10,000Dong entrance fee, or the exhausting climb,
but hey ho. On the way back down, I passed a huge group of
Vietnamese school kids enjoying a packed lunch made by the teachers.
The journey then continued uneventfully onto Hoi An, where we
transferred to a little mini-van to take us to our hotels. Initially
none of us wanted to get in the van, even with the guy insisting it
was free, "We're in Vietnam, there's got to be a catch! Nothing's
free!", nonetheless, it was free! So we all hoped gratefully into
it. The driver then drove around town dropping people off at their
chosen hotels. I was the only one going to Green Field, the one
where Andy & Gilad were staying.
I'll take this moment to make a comment about the Lonely Planet
guidebooks. When you travel, you really notice how much of a cult
following this book has. More than 90% of travellers own a copy of
this guidebook for the country they're in, or they're travelling
with someone else who does. It can get quite ridiculous. Very, very
few people now travel 'off the beaten track', most follows their
guidebook. Everyone stands in a big group, Lonely Planet book in
hand, and wonders why they can't get away from the tourist crowd!
It's actually quite hard to get 'somewhere different' or do
'something different'. But then, the reason these things are
popular, is because they're worth doing, so using the guidebook
isn't that much of a bad thing. As long as you remember not to use
it religiously. By all means, use it to get you started, then put it
away and look around for yourself. Use your eyes & your nose and
other senses and do a bit of exploring for yourself!
"Why this sudden ramble?" you may ask. Well, it really struck home
with a little incident on the mini-bus trip to the hotel. The driver
asked which hotel we wanted to go to, so of course everyone pulls
out their Lonely Planet guides and looks for the name of the hotel
they've chosen from it. We drop 2 people off, then we stop at
another hotel. We can't work out which one it is, so everyone's
holding up the map from their Lonely Planets to try to work out
where we are. Without looking round, the driver says: "84, that
hotel is number 84 in the Lonely Planet book" Sheesh! Far too many
people obviously use this book!
Anyhow, eventually I get dropped of at my hotel, Green Field Hotel.
(Note that Andy & Gilad were recommended this hotel by other
travellers, but it is also in the guidebook!)
Accommodation in Vietnam is expensive compared to the neighbouring
Asian countries, however, you generally get very good quality, and
this hotel...well...WOW! It's fantastic, the best place I've stayed
in so far! It's quite expensive for Asia, but for what you get, it's
amazing! The room is huge, spotlessly clean, en-suite (with a bath)
and has a TV. The whole hotel has an 'expensive air' to it, and the
swimming pool is absolutely top quality, an idyllic patio area with
a lovely blue pool surround by comfy, wooden sun-loungers. And all
for only US$7 per night! You'd pay at least $80 for this in England!
Once I'd got over the hotel, I had to take a quick dip in the pool.
Afterwards, I took a walk down town, both to explore Hoi An & to try
to find Andy & Gilad.
As this diary entry has got quite lengthy, I'll explain my
experiences in Hoi An in the next one...
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