Exploring Central Vietnam - 20 May 2023 – Memories Land, Hoi An

The last full day in Vietnam dawned. It has been a wonderful week in the country, despite the searing heat and humidity. The stay was all the more enjoyable because of the hotels I got to stay in. I prefer not to stay in star hotels, but in those that give me a homely feel with hospitable staff. The Little Town Villa is a revelation and I will, unhesitatingly, recommend this place to any budget traveller to Hoi An. They have 13 rooms on two floors, of which two are family rooms. The swimming pool is quite busy, given the weather. Seeing a couple of families in the pool all the time I wondered if they had come for the pool experience or for those in the city.

After breakfast I took a stroll to the Old Town to take in the sights and smells one more time. At that hour, expectedly, tourists were few and shopkeepers were dusting their wares and displaying them hoping for good sales. The small prayer place every shop has was being filled with offerings and many stood in prayer before them with lit agarbattis in their hands, genuflecting repeatedly in prayer. What a place this area of the city would have been in the centuries past, bustling with trade and politics, Chinese, Japanese and the Vietnamese! The old houses of the aristocracy are heritage places to visit. Vietnamese Communism was established in one of the houses here in 1930 and it too is a marked place of visit.

The incredible heat soon drove me back to the air-conditioned comfort of my hotel room. The rest of the morning I used to pack the bags for the return travel to Cochin. I had bought a suitcase in Da Nang and leisurely stuffing that took me to lunch. I did not have stomach for a full meal and I gravitated again to the restaurant near the hotel for a ham and cheese sandwich. Interestingly, the sandwich cost me almost double that of a local dish like Cao Lau!

I only had one more on my plate to be done on this holiday. And, that was the Hoi An Memories Show. I made the reservation for the show from the hotel. The Little Town Villa, the comfortable hotel I was lodged in, is so central that I did not have to hire any transport for visits to the Old Town or the Memories Land Show. The eTicket entitles one to enter the Resort, where the show is held between 8 and 9 pm, at 5 pm. The resort part of the huge complex, reached via an iconic bridge across the Thu Bon River, is closed to the public, except during the show timings.

The theme park is divided into four main parts, the Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese Villages and Central Park. From 5 pm to 7 pm there are mini shows in each of these theme locations, showcasing folklore and history. There are plenty of food joints to flavour local cuisine at reasonable prices. There is enough to hold your interest till the main show starts at 8 pm.

From a half past 7 people start entering the open air stage in search of the appropriate place to watch the show uninterrupted. When I was handed a poncho at the entrance to the gallery I thought that at some stage the spectators would be asked to where it to avoid the full blast of a water spray. Later I came to realise that the poncho distribution was a promotion of the company and the product!

The major spectacle, the Memories Show, is recognized as on par with an Olympic Games opening ceremony or a national day celebration. The show’s scale alone is astounding with over 500 actors and dancers taking to Vietnam’s largest outdoor stage, spanning 6 acres (25,000 square meters) on the island in the Thu Bon River. The spectacular show is a throwback on 400 years of Hoi An history made up of 5 segments on a grand scale. The harmonious blend of music, lighting, visual arts and performing arts takes one through an unforgettable experience. Modern staging techniques, lighting technology and audio effects are a feature of the show.

The five segments of the show start with Hoi An’s memories of the dawn of time, represented by the birth of a child to a couple in a fishing village. The graceful serenade of women in traditional Vietnamese dress and hats is a highlight of this segment. The second segment showcase the diplomatic story of the historical wedding of Princess Huyen Tran and King Che Man. The grand stage in which an elephant comes on stage recreates a golden past.

The third segment recreates a Hoi An in transition using the ships and the sea. The theme is about the storms the brave sons of Hoi An are willing to face for the prosperous future of the country. Despite braves face all with confidence keeping in mind the immortal love of the faithful Hoi An girls. The next segment is about the transition of Hoi An into a bustling port town with its unique cultural identity in the face of multicultural interfaces. The last segment is about the ups and downs that Hoi An faced over the years and yet remaining a peaceful, poetic and gentle land; as gentle as the Ao Dai (traditional dress that is calf length and hugs the body) of a Vietnamese girl.