A Clothes-Lover's Paradise

The second overnight train in Vietnam ended at around 0530hr and I had had around 4 hours sleep. It was much more uncomfortable than the last and definitely a lot dirtier. The ride was not smooth and the smell of food being carted up and down the aisles was certainly not tempting me to try it in any way. But we made it! And then we had an hour-or-so bus trip to our next desination, Hoi An, during which time we saw 4 dead, gutted pigs travelling (uncovered, mind you) on the back of a motorcycle to what I assume were the markets. The day was starting off well...
The first thing our group did when we arrived was to walk to the ticketing office for the Old Town - yes, you have to buy a ticket to walk through a part of this city as it is now listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. The Old Town, in my opinion, would be really nice to see if it weren't for all the tourists and touristy crap they have there. There is some lovely architecture there, though. My favourite - more for the concept behind it than anything else - is the Japanese Covered Bridge. It is said that there was a monster called Cu, with its head in India, its tail in Japan and its body in Vietnam. Whenever the monster moved, it would create drought in India, earthquakes in Japan and floods in Vietnam. The bridge was erected on the monster's weakest point which killed it. The people of Hoi An took pity on the great beast and built a temple on the northern side of the bridge to pray for its soul. What a concept. I wonder how these legends come about sometimes.
It was at this bridge that we bumped into two Germans, Michael and Sonja, travelling independently through the country. We sat down for some Cao Lau (a local noodle speciality.. delicious!) and a chat about their ventures and adventures, including Sonja's reporting on the effect Agent Orange has had on communities in Vietnam. Very, very interesting stuff and I'd love to hear more about what they get upto in the future.
After some more walking about, Lee and I went to get ourselves fitted in a few out of the hundreds of taylor shops around for some shirts, Thai fisherman pants, sandals, a dress, and a skirt (not all mine.. obviously). Relatively well made and cheap too.. I paid $14 for 2 fitted short-sleeved shirts! Stoked!
Tomfoolery ensued in the hotel's pool, including Jason whipping out the "mankini" later in the night, and we had dinner at riverside Restaurant Cafe 96 - you just have to try the grilled fish wrapped in banana leaf. In fact, we also learned how to cook this dish along with Pho and a couple of others in a cooking lesson here in Hoi An, so get ready for a flavour explosion...
A bus was ready to take us the next morning, with a bunch of other people, to another site of ancient Champa ruins and Unesco World Heritage status called My Son ("mee sun"). Arguably the most important remains of their kind, the My Son ruins are set in a jungle and are far more extensive than any other of its kind. Unfortunately, American bombs have reduced much of the area to ruins, but there is still a lot to see and the serenity (apart from the hoards of tourists) is simply sublime. The majority of our clothes were ready by the time we got back in the afternoon and I donned one of my shirts for the pool games being played that night at the hotel.
But the real excitement was on our last day in Hoi An... A bunch of us hired motorbikes (closer to scooters really) for the day and went exploring! To have the freedom to go as far (and as fast) as I wanted was really something, especially after being on foot for the majority. And I'm definitely getting myself a bike when I get back (or in the UK)! There were a few falls and a few mishaps, but the entire day was fantastic. Riding through small local villages, we got to the end of a path and at the end of the path was a fishing village and the End of the World restaurant where we stopped for lunch. Beautiful traditional food and very friendly staff. Another path took us to another fishing village where locals were fixing their vessels and enjoying rice wine. We had a bit of a chat with them (or tried to at least) before retiring for the night after our cooking lesson.
I noticed that I had lost two of my spare camera memory cards, which Tom and Sandy from our group had so kindly donated a few hours before, somewhere in the town and so the next morning before our bus out was spent bargaining a price for 30 minutes of motorbike usage and then racing around madly (even going through red lights as the locals do - what a buzz, don't try that at home kiddies) trying to find it.. But to no avail. Luckily I had saved all of my photos to my memory stick the night before... Phew!

Photos:
1. In the Old Town
2. The pigs
3. Children of a fisherman
4. The Japanese Covered Bridge
5. Lee's lovely new dress
6. The train was just too small for Anders
7. the My Son ruins
8. The totem-boys - top to bottom: Jason, Jacob, Zac and Will
9. more of the My Son ruins
10. Sunset over Hoi An
11. ...
12. Walking home
13. End of the line
14. Photography
15. A lesson in Vietnamese cuisine
16. These kids were drinking milo!
17. Always working