Hoi An, a town of many tailors.

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Well its been a few days since the last update so I feel as though I must catch up on the events of the past few days before falling any further behind. In many ways both little and a lot has happened, but most importantly Hoi An where we are now is a more chilled out little town than the rest of our journey so far so we've taken the time to relax and rest for a while. Needless to say it has been much needed.

We managed to rouse ourselves from bed on Sunday morning after our rowdy night with An Sinh and his family in Pleiku to have a hearty breakfast of Pho (a watery noodle dish) and then a stiff coffee with An Sinh. The morning passed mildly chilled but there still was a lot of conjecture on exactly what was happening for the day. As it happened we ended up visiting the market in Pleiku, picking up a few knick knacks and gifts as well as a nice jacket each for Sam and I. In the middle of this visit we had to catch a quick taxi back to the hotel to pick up Thy's wife, Sua, so she could attend the market with us. I mention this only because on the way to the hotel to pick her up we were involved in our first road accident since arriving in Vietnam (something which if you know anything about the traffic in Vietnam seems like a damn miracle). Luckily no one was hurt however the woman on the scooter who rammed into the side of the taxi due to her own inattention was a little shaken up and the taxi driver a little miffed about the new dent in his car.

Eventually however our time in Pleiku came to an end and we were driven, once again by Sang, to the airport where I drank 'Bird's Nest' a drink that may or may not have contained actual bird's nest according to the ingredients listing. A short flight later we had arrived in Hoi An, security was lax and soon we were on our way to the hotel thanks to a driver service they had arranged. Here things got a little interesting. After all the hecticness of the last few days of Pleiku we were now confronted with a rather chatty passenger who seemed to be along for the ride for the simple reason of gaining our trust and then foisting us off at a buisness where she no doubt got commission for anything we purchased. The driver was also in on this with her and so somehow we found our selves stopped in front of a store and quickly rushed inside to purchase swathes of clothing, before we'd even so much as seen our hotel! Having also seen the car with our luggage driven off I, and I suspect Sam as well but cannot be sure, were more than a little concerned about the turn of events. Paul however seemed non-chalant much to our annoyment and we sat looking at piles of fashion catalogues and chatted up by friendly (and pushy) staff.

Finally we escaped and after a few moments standing out front of the store wondering where the hell our luggage and driver had gotten too he emerged and showed us back to the car. We, perhaps understandably, were rather relieved.

The hotel here is quite nice, and even being on the top floor with no elevator and a distinct lack of the promised wifi (compounded to the almost unuseability of the offered computers in the lobby) I must say I have enjoyed my stay here so far. The staff are friendly and helpful and the atmosphere quite relaxing.

This being Hoi An of course, it was not long we visited one of the many (varying figures state between 250-500) tailor stores, shoe makers and various other stores. At current count Paul has upwards of 12 shirts I believe, with myself having had a suit and three jackets made up while Sam has decided only to have himself a pair of shoes made. All in all it has been money well spent, not to mention time well spent at the number of very relaxed restaurants and cafes, many of which offer western menus. I know it seems almost blasphemous of us to eat western style food in a foreign country, but after a week of Vietnamese food consisting largely of rice and after the last few days in seedy restaurants in Pleiku I have to say there is something immensely reinvigorating about a burger and fries. That said, we have still varied our menu choices here, having had western food only roughly half the time.

The only other two events of note I feel obliged to type here are last nights shot of Snake Wine enjoyed by Sam and myself. For those that don't know what it is, its a huge jar of rice wine filled with quite a lot of different snakes and left to ferment. Its something of a tourist thing to experience I suppose, but Sam was well chuffed to be able to try it finally. And honestly it wasn't all that bad, it even tasted vaguely familiar though of what I could not tell. And we haven't died yet, so I'm going to assume its safe.

Other than that the only other news is that our trip to Dalat has been unfortunately cancelled. It seems all flights to Dalat (as well as a number of other cities of interest) are fully booked out, so Paul's attitude of 'booking flights when we get there' seems to have derailed our intended plans. As such we are now extending our stay until tomorrow morning (possibly even Friday morning) and then going to the capital, Hanoi for a few days. What we'll do there we have no idea, however its quite likely we'll visit Papa Ho, lying in state. That aside, only time will tell. Our plan to visit Cambodia still stands at this point, so everything else should stay on schedule. I'll try to keep our readers abreast of any further updates.

To Be Continued...

Your correspondent in the field:
-Benji

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