Once underway, we began the drive north over the same road we used to travel from Da Nang after our days of traveling, but that had been in the dark. It is an interesting stretch of road shared with large trucks, vans, scooters, bicycles, pedestrians and animals, but few automobiles.
A few minutes north of Quang Ngai, we stopped at a Memorial for the Massacre at Son My, known as My Lai Massacre. There is an interesting museum with a wall of names, many familiar photos of the incidents and the people involved, artillery shells, and other glass cases of found articles. It was extremely moving to me to see this location, the representative vestiges, recreated homes, and the peaceful, beautiful surroundings of this devastating time in history. There were gardens, home foundations, lists of names, and statues amongst plantings, original trees, rice fields, and a stone walk imprinted with boots and bare feet. A week of caring for our patients put very personal faces upon this memorial and made it hard to process.
After this very somber detour, we proceeded further north in our van to our destination, Hoi An. A popular destination for tourists, this town is on the China Sea and is an UNESCO World Heritage site. It was for centuries a site of very active trading and a busy port. There still remains an ancient part of town with old buildings with ornate decorations.
Our hotel, Phu Tinh, is a resort-like place with pool, covered outdoor dining, and beds with canopy mosquito netting. It has lovely gardens complete with birds, flowers, and trellised vegetables.
Let the R&R begin!
Then there was sight-seeing and shopping...
And of course the open markets.
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