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Published: April 6th 2008
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Girls Cycling
As we drove back from My Son we passed real Vietnamese daily life, people going about their lives away from the tourists. There were tons of school kids returning home at the end of the day on their bicycles. The long sweaty bus journey to Hoi An was certainly worth it. Right from the offset I fell in love with this quaint, picturesque, friendly town. It has all that you could ask for a lovely beach, tastebud tingling good food, a UNESCO heritage Old Town, tempting tailors and a beautiful harbour.
At this stage I was travelling with three other people, we had all decided to rent mopeds to do a bit of exploring in Hoi An and the surrounds. One of the days we headed out to the ruins called My Son (pronounced Me Son). It was such an amazing adventure, we headed off without so much as a map, depending rather on the good nature of the locals. Whizzing passed people going about their daily lives be it school, shopping, working, tending the heard, ploughing the field and fishing. When we got into the town one of the guy's bikes just started leaking petrol everywhere and wouldn't start. We had to get a Vietnamese guy to have a look at it and he kindly offered to fix it. It was hilarious, next thing you know the whole extended family was out having a look at the tourists.
Hoi An Village
It is such a pretty little town that it actually has a UNESCO rating as a world heritage site. We got it fixed in the end, of course he charged us for the favour, but hey, guess this is Vietnam, nothing is free. We arrived at the gates of the ruins only to discover it had closed for the day! We weren't too disappointed because the ride itself had been worth it.
One of the days we went on a little boat tour of Hoi An and the surrounding villages. It wasn't the most authentic experience ever, it felt more like a tour of various different shops than anything else, each village you went to there were people trying to sell you stuff. Although we did get to go to a pottery place. This was really interesting, got to see how they mould and cast things and also fire things in a kiln the old fashioned way using fire. Also got to try my hand at the pottery wheel, felt like I was in the film ghost! -yeh right! Have to be the most ungraceful potter I know-
Other than that I spent my time here dipping into the wonderful cuisine that Hoi An has to offer: yummy Cau Lau which is a vegetables served with a
Pottery Lady
She showed us how it was done, then we failed miserably to copy....that's years of practise for ya. flat noodle and sprinkled with croutons; Papaya Salad served with fried onion, lettuce, peanuts, dressed in chilli; Deep Fried Camembert (not very Vietnamese, but yummy all the same); Vermicelli Noodle with Vegetables; Coconut Ice Lollys from a cart that are home made.
Had one major night out with the guys and a couple of people that we had met on the nightbus from Hanoi. We were taught a new drinking game called Pim, Pam, Pom. Have to say, it is the easiest most difficult game I have ever played! It is so simple, but when you get into it, its really easy to get confused and mess up. Needless to say I was hopeless at the game and ended up quite drunk. When the bar we were in closed, we went to the only bar that was still open: a dingy Vietnamese place that was packed full of sleazy men and drunk girls. When I went to the toilet the smell of urine was so bad that I nearly vomitted! We didn't spend to long there anyway, but was an experience! The next day we bumped into some girls from England that we had met there. They had let
Riding the Mopeds
Have to do it.... these Vietnamese Guys write on them with a big black marker. When they were walking home a Vietnamese lady pulled them into her shop and started scrubbing them down, saying that whoever wrote on them were bad men and that the girls had drank too much...I was really intrigued, would love to have known what it said.
Hoi An is also famous for its talented tailors. Although I was really tempted to get some clothes made, I had to resist...just don't have the space/money to do it. I did go with my friends who got suits and was amazed by the brilliance and skill of the ladies. They were able to make a suit in one day that would give Versace a run for his money. The quality of the finish and the material were superb. Think that it might be an idea to come back one day with a load of cash and just go mad!
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