hoa's place

china beach, vietnam

some places get it right. they get it so right that you backtrack via your mind's rearview mirror and find faults in that place in mui ne. you second guess the hostel in phnom penh. you downright dismiss that guest house in siem reap as a glorified hippie circus.

south of danang, a wiry gentleman with a mouse-like stare has been serving up magic for a couple decades now. i'd be surprised if he's still slinging it in another five. the story of hoa and his establishment is a tale as old as time with an ending straight out of ayn rand. boy is born in rural vietnamese village. boy befriends a platoon of american marines and assists them in translation and, occasionally, in providing fire support against nva or vietcong attacks. boy faces retaliation and constant threat of further punishment for his support of american forces when he was no more than nine years old.

that is all interesting and to hear it from the stallion's mouth is truly amazing, but it is all prologue and background to the experience of staying there. you do not have to know his story to have an amazing time at his guest house. in fact, hoa's place is a quintessential case study of the you-do-not-have-to variety because no more than an eyeball study reveals that it could be considered severely lacking. i'm pretty sure that the neighboring mega resorts have more than a trickle coming from their shower heads. they would also likely remove the crumbling american bunker in front of the beach, or at least remove some of the grass shards festooned around it. i probably do not need to mention the mice.

what he does have are the intangibles, and they come about through very tangible means. for one, family dinner. nearly all guest houses have a dining room where you can order your meal and, you know, eat food. at hoa's, dinner's at seven and you will sit at the long table next to that smiling dutch couple you may not otherwise meet. for another, he's got a notebook and a pen, you just take what you want, write it down, and pay when you leave. does it make you take that extra beer you might not otherwise? it does. do you feel less like a client and more like a guy visiting a close friend? that too.

of course, hoa's place will fall prey to the sands of time. and capitalism. that pristine beach and that adjacent empty property are just too nice a match to remain as they are. that backdrop for surfing and moonlit beach walks just makes so much more sense as the private possession of russian and chinese golfers for their biennial vacations. anyone who knows me knows the rant that follows, so i'll let you fill in the rest.

i, for one, will be back. empty promise, you say? nope. i've got someone to show this place to and that will be in about two weeks time. regardless of motive, it would only be right that i return before leaving vietnam. i still owe hoa about ten bucks.