Hoi An

Next stop was the sleepy little river town of Hoi An. We had what was our first pleasant bus trip - probably the fact that the bus was only half full, the ride was only 3 hours long, and we had plenty of food both before and during the ride.





As noted on Michael's blog Hoi An is a town of tailors - there must be over 100 shops lining the streets that will make you pretty much whatever you want. They have books of patterns, bolts of fabric, and you have the freedom to mix and match. Given that the prices are incredibly cheap you can see how easy it would be to get carried away. We met many folks who were lugging HUGE bags to clothes getting ready to ship home. We came out pretty light with just 3 kilos of clothes that we mailed home slowboat style.



The dining experiences in Hoi An I think were the worst the date. At one meal we sat next to an American woman who spent 10 minutes trying to explain to the waiter who spoke no English that she wanted "the salad dressing on the side." He had no idea what she was talking about, and you would think at some point she would give up, but no - "dressing on the side." It was embarrassing.

Next, the meal with a rat and cockroach on the side. Sitting in a nice outdoor cafe Michael felt something scurry across his feet. Turned out it was a rat trying to catch a cockroach for his dinner. While this was entertaining it was also gross and we determined that it would be too difficult for me to eat dinner with my legs up on the chair so we moved and watched the chase from another table. The before mentioned rat can be seen in front of motorcycle in both pictures below.





Finally a meal where the food was bad and a tied up dog 10 feet away barked throughout the entire 45 minute dinner while its owners did nothing. Clearly this is just part of how things work here. I could not get out of there fast enough.

Hoi An was also the land of touts. While Vietnam in general has been filled with people asking if you wanted motorbike rides, cyclos, etc., this was by far the worst. In one 8 minute walk we were approached by 12 (and this rate is about average) people basically all with the same shtick.

* Hello
* Where you from?
* What's your name?
* Where you come from?
* Where you going?
* Can you (fill in the blank): come see my store?; rent a motorbike?: eat at this restaurant?; etc.

Finally in Hoi An I met the Vietnamese incarnation of my aunt Lissanne. And while they don't really look alike it was like talking to a Lissanne-clone with a Vietnamese accent and very tiny feet. Was good to have a little reminder of home.