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Published: April 18th 2007
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10th Entry.....
Last night we caught the train from Hanoi to Hoi An (try not getting those names mixed up at 4.00 am when the conductor asks you where you travelled from and where are you going). The 2 tier soft sleeper option is very comfortable. We met a lovely couple from San Souci (Sydney southern beaches) and chatted about the obvious stuff: -
Where have you travelled now and in your whole life, where would you like to go, where will you be able to go in the near future, how will you get there, wouldn't it be great if you could get a years wages for 3 months work, will Aly and I finally become tour guides in Asia and only do casual nursing work when we are in Australia (including locums/holiday relief in Central Australia), will the other couple move to Brisbane from Sydney, what is your favourite food in Cambodia (Amok was the unanimous choice of course)/Laos/Vietnam (my vegetarianism prompting restricted albeit more god-like choices of course in these countries that cook anything that once had a pulse), are you taking anti-malaria medication (Aly and I weren't...just being careful and using RID), what did you
think about the movie Bra Boys (the other couple in our train cabin live near Maroubra Beach...they reckon that the bra boys may actually have a few more choices to behave better than was portrayed in the movie which ran the victim theme quite a bit), and other travel-like conversation.
Arrived at Da Nang and caught a taxi to Hoi An. We had a booking in a hotel which was located next to a tailor, both of which were recommended to us by our daughters travel friend. Before I could finish my shower Aly was next door ordering a new personally tailored wardrobe (OK only a jacket 2 tops and a skirts, 2 "3/4" pants, and, a top and pants combo), not bad...and I didn't even shave or shampoo in that time. Her reply when I asked politely "you bought what" was the usual reply..."you should have seen what I didn't buy!". In her defence Hoi An is world famous for good quality and cheap tailors and we had planned for Aly to get some things made up. I asked the tailors, including the very "flamboyant" Co Co, to copy the design of a pair of shorts and a
long pair of Indian pyjama-like pants for me (2 of each). Aly and our girls were somewhat under-whelmed but not surprised with my minimal clothes purchasing. My reply was also the usual, when my other clothes fall apart I will buy some more.
(Aly) I defy anyone to go into a tailor in Hoi An and only order one item. They have that tape measure down your leg and round your boobs while you're still stepping in to the shop. When choosing between red and green they will take that as a 'one of each' and move on quickly to discuss the next item. I just wanted a jacket! Anyway its all really lovely stuff, some of it with a bit of a home-made feel, which I quite like actually.
Oh, and I bought a pair of shoes from a smaller business - take a look at the photo to see the plush and highly mechanised shoemaking workshop.
(Trev) After the tailoring extravaganza we went for a little stroll around the town the centre of which (the travellers eat/drink/sleep/buy/meet etc. section) is only about 700 metres by 700 metres. A very lovely, friendly, welcoming, relaxed and inviting village.
Shoe factory
These guys turn out some very nice shoes - in fact I bought a pair. The buildings, which were spared by the bombings during the war thank Goddess, were again a mixture of French, Viet, Chinese, Japanese etc. Those who enjoy architectural beauty were pleased to note the absence of the, bland, concrete block, Stalinist monstrosities (I didn't notice any actually). This town is highly recommended by all travellers who have visited it, I mean all. A work friend of mine spent 1 month of his 2 months in Vietnam here so that probably tells a story.
The next morning we moved hotels to one around the corner exchanging our quaint second story room overlooking a busy and surprisingly noisy minor road to a much more comfy, newer, very quiet and aesthetically richer 3rd story room which looked out over an expanse of rice paddies. The hotel also had an outside swimming pool and for an extra $US6, which included breakfast, the choice was not a difficult one. By the way, this was also the 4th time that we moved hotel after the first night in a new town. The go was I'd do a reconnaissance mission the next morning and return to the room to say to Aly "no, really you should see
this one (hotel/room), it's got.......and its only.....$US......". I loved the hotel moves, Aly was pleased after the event but only moderately pleased during the move. Her comments would be along the line of "now, we are only moving once" and "OK if it makes you happy then I am happy Trev". It did make me happy, actually I was just preparing for my sojourn into becoming a travel guide accommodation reporter.
I guess that the icing on the cake (or in this case the cheese on the baguette) was that Hoi An has a wonderful swimming beach located 4 kilometres (a push-bike ride) from the town centre, yes, with lots of sand, palm trees, a valet service for your push-bike, cheap thatched hut restaurants just back from the beach, and or course ladies selling coconuts, water, pineapples, bracelets, post cards and anything that you could imagine on the beach. If they weren't carrying it they could get it in less than 5 minutes. In an attempt to get you to buy something, accompanying their slightly confronting selling style was a repertoire of cliches such as: - open your hearts and open your wallets; dont make my brown eyes blue;
etc. I wish I could remember more they were actually quite funny considering the circumstances and the location.
Bloggers may note that Aly continues in her role of principal photographer, and put-the-photos-on-the-blog-site-consultant. A job requiring incredible brain-power, patience, persistence and dedication to the cause of helping to unify the world by way of presenting snapshots (to accompany my verbal offerings) of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam into the lounge rooms, studies and offices of people all around the world and indeed (do Martians have Windows XL ?) the universe beyond.
Anyhow, we really enjoyed Hoi An but we knew that we only had 2 nights there due to not being able to book a train earlier from Hanoi, but that was OK. Tomorrow its back to Saigon for 1 night and then back on the Jet Star flight to Sydney and the Qantas link flight to Brisbane. Experiencing mixed feelings of course, but that was the plan and we're missing our girls Jessi and Lucy and our dog Roxy and our friends and work colleagues...but....also enjoying playing the what if game? "...what if, we just stayed and taught English for a year or 2, what if, we just became tour guide leaders etc. etc. etc. As they say in the movie "The Castle".... "tell him he's dreamin". OK we are dreamin.......for now at least.......mmmmmm.
One last entry from Saigon will follow.
luv Aly and Trev xxx
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