Style: August 02, 2019

92 STYLE | travel
A history of a different kind can
be discovered at Fito Museum,
which tracks the development of
traditional Vietnamese medicine
from the Stone Age to today.
One of the first private museums
in Vietnam, the six-storey building
itself is of interest. Moved from
Hanoi, it is remarkably bigger than
it first appears, with 14 exhibition
rooms exploring different fields of
pharmacy.
Whether it’s the bamboo houses
of the Mekong Delta, the carved
figures of the north or the motherof-pearl
use of the south, there’s
also an opportunity to become
more familiar with Vietnam’s four
spiritual animals: dragon (power),
phoenix (beauty), turtle (longevity)
and unicorn (prosperity). These
animals line the roofs of pagodas –
with the unicorn more of a lion than
what the western world depicts
– and the turtle often represented
through a circular symbol, which,
once you start taking notice of it,
you will see everywhere.
We finish our journey, aptly, with
a cup of tea infused with both lotus
flower and the highly revered li minh
mushroom. We are told, one cup will
add one year to one’s life. Well, then,
drink up.
Hoi An
There is something about Hoi An.
A 45-minute drive from Danang
airport, it’s warmer than Ho
Chi Minh, with a much smaller
population (around 150,000, versus
8.5 million of Vietnam’s largest city).
It almost feels as though you are
walking through people’s backyards
once you start winding your way
through the city streets. Houses are
being built, reels of wire are being
straightened out and, down an
alleyway, you see normal family life
taking place.
There are tailors aplenty, though I
settled on purchasing some custommade
shoes. A bit of bartering and
24 hours later, I’m picking up a pair
of sandals in Vietnamese leather that
truly do boast an amazing fit – all
for $30.
The half-day cycle tour became
a trip highlight – despite not being
able to remember the last time I
was on a bike and the ‘anything
goes’ approach to road rules. Water
poured from the sky, pooled on the
roads and had us completely soaked,
but we weren’t cold and we gained
a much wider view of life in Hoi An.
From rice paddy fields and their
free-ranging water buffalo, to shrimp
farms and the rivers complete with
fish traps (bamboo sticks arranged in
large circles), we rode easily among
the lush landscapes that surrounded
them. At the Thanh Ha pottery
village, where 300 families live today
(not all making a living from pottery
any more), we try our hand at
making small vessels from the clay
sourced from the nearby river.
The houses here are raised well
above ground level. Vu, our Active
Asia guide, explains that this is due
to flooding that was once an annual
event, with river water rushing in
through the village to heights of two
metres. Yet, never was this seen as a
catastrophe. Rather, a way to wash
away pests – from termites to rats,
and fertilise the rice paddy fields. It
was good luck. Today, man-made
dams in the mountains see the
floods less frequent and Mother
Nature’s way stymied.
At Tra Que ‘farming’ village we
see perfectly maintained strips
of lettuce, mint, spring onion and
morning glory create a patchwork
of green, in all its shades. Each
family owns 100–200sqm of space,
which they tend laboriously, using
only homemade seaweed tonics to
boost growth of their year-round
gardens. These organic vegetables
are then taken to the market
and sold. The leaves of the water
coconut are used like netting,
fending off birds and providing
shelter from the sun.
As night falls, the streets become
aglow with brightly coloured lanterns
and the Thu Bon River covered in
sampan and floating candles. Flanking
both sides of the river are eateries
serving everything from pizza and
beer to traditional Vietnamese food.
While deciding, we stopped in on
the 300-metre-long Nguyen Hoang
Night Market, a place for souvenirs
and snacks – a fried frog perhaps?