custom fittings

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finally, a relaxing city. hoi an. its amazing. small streets, narrow alleyways, boutique shops, and amazing food. what more could someone ask for. well custom made clothes for one. this small town boasts 200-300 custom tailors. its overwhelming. most people come here just to get clothes made. i was not so sure it was necessary, but an exciting event none the less that put smiles on a lot of peoples faces. hoi an is not a town for many tours, but it does have a few. i took a tour of a 'my son' a ruin site an hour from town. it has many temples and craters. the craters are from the us bombs during the vietnam war which destroyed some of the temples and left its remnants in the form of craters still very visible today. its a good thing it only lasted 2 hours at the sites because i was already over looking at temple ruins by the end. the other popular thing to do in hoi an is rent bikes. 1 dollar/day. it allows you to cruise the streets at your own leaisure, but you can cover far more ground than on foot. the ocean is only 4km away and i took advantage of that on day 1. it was jam packed with vietnamese people swimming in the water and other trying to rent you a big matts to sunbathe on. the best part about the beach is the late afternoon/evening. locals come out and start cooking fresh seafood. it was clams that got served up this time. for 2.50 dollars, one gets 10 clams cooked over a fire with garlic and only god knows what else. generally, these are questions i stopped asking. if it looks good, cook it up and give it to me. i dont care what is in it.

the other night adventure is the river/market area. during the day it looks like cheap, cheesey decorations floating in the water. at night, they all light up and give the town a different glow. dragons, turtles, and other random aniamls and decorations. as well, there are food stands serving up local hoi an dishes. there are 3. cao lao, white rose, and fried wontons. the cao lao is a doughy noodle with croutons and veggies over a salty sauce. the white rose is kind of like small rice dumplings filled with shrimp i believe, and the wontons are more like fried tostadas. all of them were amazing. they did have bia hoi here as well, but instead of a liter, it was a glass, and it cost anywhere from 3,000-5,000 dong....in other words, no more than 25 cents for a glass of beer.

after going back and forth as to whether i should get a suit. i decided not to. i dont wear suits at home ever and i felt a bit overwhelmed with the shops. i did however break down and had a wool coat made. i couldnt come to hoi an and leave with nothing but memories right.

my other very special event in hoi an was when i took a bike through back alleys by myself. i came across a big monastary. there was nobody around, so i parked the bike and went in for a closer look. i had this feeling i shouldnt be there, but i went in anyway to get some pictures. nobody was around, so why not. well, upon coming out i found people. a bit nervous, i threw on a big smile and said my hellos. one of the monks took to my smile. he came up and starting talking with me. he spoke english surprisingly well. minh dien was his name. 29 years old. he lives at the monastary and is a monk in training. he is also a teacher to other aspiring students. he gave me a private tour of the monastary as he worked on some english words and i worked on some vietnamese words, which were forgotton almost immediately. i ended up spending 2.5 hours with him. he invited me for some tea and even invited me to come back for a prayer/chanting/meditation session that night with all of the monks. you may think i am crazy to turn it down, but it would have been very uncomfortable for me. it was an honor though, to be asked to partake. i gave him my email and hope he writes. so far, no luck. nonetheless it was an experience that added to the charm of hoi an.

at last i said my goodbyes to friends met and the beautiful city. it was time for a short trip to hue

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Photos

minh dien
monk friend

cau lao
local dish 1

wontons
local dish 2

white rose
local dish 3