Project End

It's been an interesting and poignant week in Hue. We had four full days of meetings for our project from Monday to Thursday, and a half-day today (Friday). There were about 45 people attending in total, from our five partner universities in Hue, Hanoi, and Iloilo (Philippines). My boss and I were not sure how this final meeting of the project would turn out, but it ended up being very successful. We all realised just how much has been achieved over the past five years, and there have been meaningful benefits to both our university partners and to the communities they work with. It was very gratifying to see the results - and to know that development work really can make a difference in poor countries. Good stuff.

We passed a couple of nice evenings. Tuesday night, I went for a stroll around the city centre with my friend and colleague H. (bought two gorgeous silk scarves for US $4 each), and we had a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant by the river (spring rolls, crispy noodles with pork and shrimp, and beer for about US $3 each). On Wednesday evening, our host Dr. P. invited all of the Canadians for dinner at his wonderful home in the countryside outside Hue. My boss and I had the pleasure of a similar experience during our last visit to Hue in the summer, and this evening was equally special. The food was fantastic and we ate at a long table out in the garden, beneath a flowering pomelo tree.

There was a closing banquet dinner last night, during which there was lots of drinking and speechifying. (One of the leaders from Hanoi brought a fairly toxic bottle of hooch to the table, which was labelled both as "medicinal" and as comprising 37% ethanol. Wishing to retain brain cells, I did not partake.) The evening closed with that beloved Asian pastime of karaoke, which our partners take extremely seriously. Luckily we Canadians got away with performing two group numbers (badly) before saying our goodbyes. It was really quite sad to bid all these folks farewell, I must say. Who knows if or when we will see any of them again?

By the time I finished all my work this morning and got packed up and checked out of our hotel, it was time to head off on the holiday portion of this trip. H. and I had arranged for a car and driver to take us south to the small historic fishing town of Hoi An (just south of Da Nang), and we were picked up at 4pm. It took just under three hours to cover a distance of around 110 km, for which we paid US $30 each - not bad, and extremely convenient. The trip itself was fairly scary, though. As I've noted in previous travelogues, driving practices in Vietnam are quite hair-raising and we very nearly got into an accident about an hour outside Hue. It was - unsurprisingly - caused by our driver trying (illegally) to pass a large truck. I could see when he pulled out that we would not have enough time to pass...and the next thing I knew, we were beside the truck with another large truck barrelling towards us. I closed my eyes and screamed...and the other truck swerved onto the shoulder, missing us. It was awful. Luckily my shriek had the desired effect on the driver, though, who drove much more cautiously for the rest of the trip!

By 7pm we arrived at the Ha An Hotel, our base in Hoi An. It's a fantastic place, with French colonial architecture, a large grassy courtyard and lots of palm trees twinkling with lights. We were given a welcome drink and checked in speedily, then went to the restaurant for some dinner. H. left in a taxi immediately afterwards, bound for Da Nang Airport to pick up her husband J. who has arrived in Vietnam this evening to join her for another week of travel. But I lingered over coffee in the courtyard, enjoying the balmy night air, before settling into my room for the evening. The accommodation here is so nice - fresh flowers everywhere in the rooms, with petals scattered across the bed and on the bathmat. So many thoughtful, pretty touches everywhere - I can see already why H.'s cousin recommended this hotel to us, and why it has such a high rating on TripAdvisor. It's wonderful - and a bargain at only US $55/night.

We have a busy day in store tomorrow - a full day exploring the old town of Hoi An and all the sights it has to offer - before I head out again very early on Sunday morning. More updates soon.