We caught Vietnam Airlines on Monday to get here - pleasantly surprised by the nice plane and the fact that it was on time etc.
Hoi An - well, what can I say? We're in love with the place and if it wasn't for the constant stream of young women saying "Hello where you from? You come my sister's/mother's/cousin's shop" we'd probably move here permanently.
A world heritage listed old town, with beautiful wooden buildings that can transport you back to the days (during 17th-19th centuries) when it was a major international port.
Today, it's a town solely catering for the tourists. It's mostly become famous for it's tailor made garment manufacture. The tailors here whip up anything from a simple top to a wool greatcoat in a day!! There's "cloth shops" back-to-back on every street and everybody seems to be touting for one of them.
We talked to a man who'd left Hoi An to go to the U.S. 27 years ago – he said that at that time there was no work here and people had to find work elsewhere so he's happy for the economic boost the town's getting due to tourism. But we feel that it's spoilt with so much commercialism.
What we love about it:
** the gorgeous old houses with faded paint in soft yellows, blues and pinks, which intersperse the magnificent wooden dwellings, with creepers spilling over the balconies. Needless to say I've used heaps of film rolls since we got here!Hoi An - well, what can I say? We're in love with the place and if it wasn't for the constant stream of young women saying "Hello where you from? You come my sister's/mother's/cousin's shop" we'd probably move here permanently.
A world heritage listed old town, with beautiful wooden buildings that can transport you back to the days (during 17th-19th centuries) when it was a major international port.
Today, it's a town solely catering for the tourists. It's mostly become famous for it's tailor made garment manufacture. The tailors here whip up anything from a simple top to a wool greatcoat in a day!! There's "cloth shops" back-to-back on every street and everybody seems to be touting for one of them.
We talked to a man who'd left Hoi An to go to the U.S. 27 years ago – he said that at that time there was no work here and people had to find work elsewhere so he's happy for the economic boost the town's getting due to tourism. But we feel that it's spoilt with so much commercialism.
What we love about it:
**riding a motorbike (yes, all 4 of us on a 100cc bike) to the beach and around the town. You see the locals piled onto bikes all the time (3 adults + 1 child!) but none of them has a bottom quite the size of mine - so it must look hilarious to them! We have got giggles and stares galore.
**the life on the river - the boats here are different from the Mekong Delta - steered with one oar rather than two long ones.
**getting kidnapped by a lady who promised to show me her shop so I could return the next day to get a pedicure - but instead I found myself sitting down with one lady performing a pedicure on one foot while another proceeded to "demonstrate" (ha ha!) a leg wax done with string (fascinating procedure!). The next thing I knew they'd sent someone to locate Ben and the boys and all of a sudden I found myself paying for a pedicure, 1/2 leg wax, hard skin on the sole of my feet shaved off AND a haircut (an awful one!) for Ramesh!! It was quite disconcerting at the time - but a very funny experience in retrospect. Ben had a ball haggling and then chatting with about 3 girls the whole while! The girls were waiting for me to finish so I could go to their "cousin's" shop to get measured for some clothes!
**the beach - the white sanded, palm lined Cua Dai Beach stretches for 30km. We loved watching the locals who were gathered in groups, sitting on mats, chatting, eating, drinking, playing in the surf. It was like a great big party by the time the sun went down. Apparently this is common on full moon nights (it was either a full moon or almost one when we were there last night). There were hardly any tourists around except for us and a few others.
**The fact that most locals (usually the girls) can't swim. So, similar to Sri Lanka, they go in the water fully clothed! (in dresses, jeans, anything). So you can imagine the girls look far less decent than the westerners in their skimpy bikinis when they get out. It was a great atmosphere. The boys enjoyed playing with the local kids and loved cooling down.
Things we don't enjoy:
**getting hassled everywhere you go by people selling you things – anything from Tiger balm, to clothes, to fish (AS IF I'm going to be cooking!!).
**getting hassled on the beach to buy fruit, peanuts etc. That I found the hardest to take because you feel trapped when sitting down rather than being able to smile and keep on walking!
Well, that's it from me today.... I actually wrote a far more verbose email last night and it disappeared into cyberspace - hence the dot points today! Hopefully this will get to you... only one telephone line out of Hoi An....so it gets really clogged up.
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