Flood

The town of Hoi An in central Viet Nam is located close to the coast on a river that flows to the South China Sea. Very low lying ground.

In late September when the Philippines was struck by the horrendous rainfall and massive flooding (see Trip From Hell) we were on our way to Viet Nam and got, shall we say, distracted and delayed. By the time we arrived in Hanoi, well to the north of Hoi An, the storm had followed us across the South China Sea and scored a direct hit on that whole area - Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An. It was a bad one for the citizens there as well. (We were not affected in Hanoi).

However, it seems that Hoi An and its people are well used to flooding. It happens all the time and it appears that people just pick themselves up, clean up and carry on. As you walk through the alleys and streets of the town you see walls that are obviously water damaged (actually beautiful colours, shapes and designs on the painted walls). When we were there at Christmas it was obvious that people were still repairing and renovating - you could see evidence of a recent flood. What I subsequently found out was that it wasn't just damage from the late September storm but they had also been hit by yet another typhoon in November as well.

We stopped for coffee at one of the riverside cafes one morning and saw these markings on the wall indicating some of the really bad floods in recent years. Here's a shot of Number 2 Son, Mike, who is at least 6 feet tall, standing by these high water markings - dated September 30, 2009 (the big one we were affected by back in Manila) and November 5th, 2007. Almost unimaginable that the water could rise this high.

Oh, one curious thing about this picture. Coincidentally, these two dates represent both my and Howard's birthdays.

No birthday trips to Hoi An in our future. I'll pass.