We arranged to have a college student give us a tour in Hoi An and Sophie was our guide. She is 21 and lived in DaNang. She is studying English to become a translator. We rode our bicycles into town where we met her and headed down to the ferry dock. We were going to visit a faming community across the river.
Ferries carry passangers, motor scooters and bicycles.
First stop was a boat building yard. It is a dying art because only the old men build the boats now as the work is hard and the pay is low. The young men now move into town where they can get better and higher paying work.
The saw they use to cut the logs for the boats.
Next stop, the shop of a master carver. He is working on a Smiling Buddha made from sandlewood. It took four days to make the Buddha.
This dragon sculpture took him a year to make. It won 1st place in a contest. There are 1000 dragons carvedc into the sculpure.
Off to a rice noodle making home. Grandma showing me how to work the rice grinder.
Cooking the rice slurry to make a rice noodle patty.
Mother cutting the patty into noodles.
Miles and miles of rice fields.
Next stop was a visit to the Hoang Family Temple. The family was having a reunion at the temple. They were having a ceremony to honor their ancestors and after they were having a lunch. They invited us to come back later and join them for lunch.
Off to visit a weaver. Grandmother and granddaughter weaving a mat. It takes about five hours to make a mat and they sell it for $3.00.
One of the colored mats that they make.
This was the end of the tour so we rode our bikes down to the river and took a walk on the monkey bridge.
Charlie makes it to the boat without falling into the river!!
Sophie and Jane make it without getting wet!
We returned to the Hoang Family Temple and joined them for lunch. There were about 100 family members there. We were seated with the higher ranking family members. Sophie translated for us.
A lot of toasting went on.
An interesting way to serve chicken.
We weren't always sure just what we were eating!
The head of the family came over to meet us.
We were honored that the family had invited us to lunch. This was certainly the highlight of our bike tour. We returned home after we left the temple.
