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Published: March 22nd 2008
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The original plan was to come down to Hoi An for a couple of nights and then shoot up to Hue before flying south to HCMC. After landing in Danang, that little place made famous in the American War (as viewed from the Vietnamese side of things) and cruising on down the main road past the massive coastline destruction (I mean development) projects you arrive at Hoi An. It all started out bad when the guy that picked me up from the airport told me that the hotel I'd booked wasn't exactly on the same page as me and didn't have any rooms available. But he had some options for me (they all seem to have options), this is when it normally goes downhill rapidly, it's like "come to my shop". Being the genius driver/tour guide that he was he worked the phone all the way down to Hoi An and found me a room closer to town for less money. Hey it all sounds good right? Well it did until I was talking to some other people staying there as my stay progressed. Strangely enough for Vietnam there was a great variation in the price of the room depending on
A bicycle built for three.
Just prior to this they managed to have a head on collision with a moped, you had to be there, very funny. where it was and who had sold it to you. I managed to come out the winner by paying USD20 a night where some others paid USD11 or USD15 for lessor "quality" rooms. Well that was the excuse the manager gave me when I questioned her ethics and truthfulness in a polite kind of way. But even for USD20 this place was a bargain location wise, plus it had a pool, so I'm not really complaining.
What's there to love about Hoi An, apart from more tailor shops per square metre then anywhere else in the world, a nice little waterfront district there's some really cool places to just hang out drink coffee and feast on some of the best pastries I've had since that little boulangerie in Saint Herblain. Not to mention that they have managed to get the level of service just right as opposed to the in your face Hanoi style. Having done the stroll along the waterfront and rested my weary legs with a coffee stop, a random Manchester lass suggested drinks later a this trendy little place called Tam Tam. Oh yeah, nice as red wine from the bottle for $2 a glass means
The beach at Hoi An
Hire yourself a pushy for USD1 for the day and off you go for a 20 minute ride to the beach. you can't go wrong, combined with the chilled out music and I've set up camp and moved in for the week. Oh a little tip, when meeting up with people in a bar, remember what they look like, I didn't so I didn't get any more travel tips from the Manchester lass.
The only downside about Hoi An is that it's also the breeding ground for the most savage mossies this side of the former Berlin Wall. Seriously I haven't been savaged this much before, ever, as was pointed out to me DEET is your friend in Hoi An. Lucky I managed to get some of the 80% DEET nuke any insect within 5 metres radius repellent before I left home, I didn't realise how sensational this stuff was until now.
The stretch of beach from Danang to Hoi An is undergoing a transformation, I'd say give it 3 years and there will be 5 star resorts all the way instead of sand dunes and poor villages. In just one short stretch there was signs and fancy fences going up advertising Raffles, Crowne Plaza and Hyatt all in the process of being built. It wont be long before
One of my "homes" for the week
Have I mentioned the great pastries you can get here. the magic of the place is completely destroyed. Hopefully Hoi An can keep its magic about it with all this development just up the road. One other really cool thing about Hoi An is that they ban motorbikes and cars from the old town between certain hours. This allows the classical music that they play over the loudspeakers throughout town to be heard as you wonder aimlessly around trying to avoid the big holes where they're doing some major civil works.
Unfortunately I had to leave Hoi An and continue southward before I ate too many of the fine pastries and turned into a blimp. I also managed to be the only person to leave Hoi An without buying a suit or having some other clothes tailored. But leaving was not without incident. After arriving at the airport there were three of us standing around waiting for the ticket counter to open, so we could check in. Soon after two bus loads of your classic tour group tourists arrived, one French and one German. This is where things took a little turn for not the best, while waiting patiently for my turn (not really a long wait since I
was third in line) both the tour guides rushed to the counter and started to get their respective groups checked in. Being the shy, retreating type I suggested to them that this may not be the best way to conduct business. The German guide saw it my way pretty early in the discussion and walked away. The French guide had a different understanding, since my ability to speak either French or Vietnamese is somewhat restricted the whole thing was going downhill fast. Enter the Australian Vietnamese lady who was second in line. Talk about coming in with the perfect counter punch, she ever so politely explained to the French guide in Vietnamese that she and her group would now be moving to the end of the queue (well words to that effect), even though the guide claimed she did not see us standing there (I really must stop blending into the crowd). Checked in and happy, time for a coffee and just when I thought all was good I had to turn into a coffee snob. Like when does a cappuccino morph into some boiling hot vanilla malt milkshake. The postscript to all this was that I got to sit
in the exit row for the flight to Saigon (it's the small things in life that impress me).
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