Cham Islands Outside of Hoi An

Outside of Hoi An is a Pottery Village, supposedly famous, but we couldn't find it and nobody knew where it was when I asked for directions.  Funny....Straying miles out of the way trying to find this place....the goal became finding our way back to town, forget about the pottery.  The ride through the rice paddies and out-of-the-way hamlets was pretty interesting and beautiful...that was worth the trip in itself.  We happened on the village and their famous pots while trying to find our way back to town.....it was right around the corner from the first person we asked. LOL.  The pots are thrown on a wheel that sits off the ground about 6 inches and is operated manually by a second person who keeps the wheel turning by kicking it as it goes around.  I have a picture.  The Vietnamese people are an ingenious bunch....and they have electricity.....as I observed many times, they can gerry-rig just about anything....so I think the manual pottery wheel is for effect......for the tourists. It was fun to watch anyway.

Two days ago was the snorkeling day.  A trip out to Cham islands, about 6 kilometers from Hoi An, (which is just south of Da Nang in the middle of Vietnam between Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Hanoi.)  Our Vietnamese Junk boat was run by a Vietnamese captain and a bunch of French Guys....all of them were great with the divers. They actually looked like they enjoyed their jobs....it was refreshing.  We accompanied a variety of fishing boats out of the harbor and into the bay.  The trip out took about an hour.  At 30 minutes Moon and I were handing out candied ginger to several of our cohorts who were starting to turn green with sea sickness  We were a hit.  The ginger worked.

(This fellow is rowing something that looks exactly like a wok or half a coconut. There are usually two of these on a boat and they are turned upside down so it looks like there are two little domes.)

We arrived at our destination, donned wet suites and jumped into water.  What a shock....it was cold and I didn't expect it.  78 degrees.  Moon is a warm water person but she stayed in for 30-45 minutes.  I was amazed she made it that long.  There was a second opportunity but most of the folks stayed on the boat....even though we all had wet suits....it was chilly.  It happened to be the better location, clarity was better, more fish, and tons of coral.  Then the boat took off for a beach where a local lunch was prepared for us....whole fried fish, prawns, several different salads, noodles....a great meal.  It was a It's always enjoyable to be stretched out and relaxed on a boat. It was a good day.

(Our Captain and first mate playing a Vietnamese game....sort of a cross between checkers and chess.  They play for money.....always.  Card games and whatever this was are favorites.  Vietnamese are big gamblers.)