Hoi An

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After thoroughly enjoying my time in Hue, I jumped on a bus bound for Hoi An. Of course, as this was merely a 4 hour ride, the bus was an air conditioned liner and I had an open seat next to me. The ride was uneventful, except for when we stopped for lunch. I wandered down a nearby driveway, which led to a lake that greeted me with absolutely stunning view. In the background lush rugged hills framed a large calm lake that lay in the foreground. I wandered down a little beach, that took me past a number of upturned boats. The beach appeared to be a docking station because there were about 30 boats moored in the vicinity and a ways out in the lake were some covered platforms built on stilts. Topping off the scene was a women in the classical conical hat slathering tar on the bottom of an upturned boat on the beach. After soaking in the atmosphere for a bit, I continued the trip on to Hoi An.

Hoi An is a city on the coast of Vietnam that was a marquee port from the 14th century through the 18th century. Thankfully it escaped any significant bombing from either side during the Vietnam War, as such it has a surplus of traditional architecture dating from variety periods. In modern times the city has become famous for its tailors, whose shops are everywhere. Throughout the heart of the city it is impossible to walk more than a block or two without seeing at least 3 or 4. I got a number of items tailor made and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Beyond clothing, there is a plethora of places to shop, with a huge market in the center of town and little shops everywhere selling silk, art or hand carved figurines.

The other noteworthy fact of the city is it's HOT! The townspeople have figured it out and start work early and work very late, but take it easy from about 11-4. Unawares of the climate, I foolishly went out at the hottest part of the day with some Irish friends to do a self guided tour. We made it about half way through before giving up and getting lunch and heading to our rooms for a siesta.

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Comments

[Joe]

City is HOT!
Peter, I took a break from the blog for a week or two... Great to see these photos... Feel free to use Facebook to add some of your additional photos... Greg and I decided to reschedule our mile race for this week, if you can't make it we'll just mark you down for 9:30, cool?

[Greg]

I seem to have heard the story of a person running around town and everyone following/ cheering along- oh yeah, it was in Rocky I. Hope you are enjoying yourself- see you in two weeks!! "Yikes, two weeks" said Peter, "it is too soon Auntie Am, I want to keep living in this wonderful world of Oz." Tapping red shiny running shoes together, he says "There is no place like not home, there is no place like not home."