You buy something please

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Have you ever been to Disneyworld?

Its a small world - you know the exhibit I am talking about. I felt like we were in it. Hoi An is a top tourist destination in Vietnam. It used to be an important seaport for trading. It is now famous for some very well preserved traditional houses and buildings in the centre, as well as tailors where you can have clothes made overnight for very cheap. It is a tourist magnet and people seem to love it.

In short, we hated it. We planned to stay 4 days and have clothes made but left after 2 and did not even go into one of the nearly 500 tailor shops. The hassling to buy was constant, I mean absolutely constant. Every shop, every person you passed called out: please come, please buy something, do you want a moto, what do you need. It was exhausting to try and be polite and constantly say no thank you when you simply wanted to yell at everyone to leave you alone. Also, we wanted to arrange to visit Son My near Quang Ngai and we could not get straight information from anyone about how to get there. First we were told no bus went there, even though Quang Ngai is right on Highway one. Then the women at our hotel told us that she could arrange a taxi to take us out to the highway and flag down a local bus for 15$. This is exhorbitant here - the bus likely costs around 1-2 USD each and the highway is only 10 kms away. She also told us the bus only went at night. In fact the bus goes all day, every 30 minutes. Then at least 6 different "tourist information" places told us the train does not stop in Quang Ngai. In fact, Quang Ngai is a main stop on the main Reunification Express trains - these are the "fast" trains that go 6 times a day. You can also take a local train there. We were so frustrated - every place simply wants you to pay inflated prices for a "tourist" bus or a private driver and unless you are interested in doing so, they will not help you.

So we decided that the negative vibe was bringing us down and packed up to leave. I include some photos anyways because it was pretty beautiful

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Photos

Cao Lau
Dan eating Cao Lau in a small cafe. This is the local specialty: noodles made with water from a particular well mixed with pork, bean sprouts, crispy wontons, and fresh herbs.

Happy Hour at the Tam Tam Cafe
Big Drafts = 20,000 VND (under 1.25 USD)

Comments

[Carl]

Beer in Asia
Only Dan could pose chugging a beer in Asia! happy you guys are having fun. Stay safe