Sweet potatoes sold in the shape of cookies were difficult to pass by so I sampled some and chatted with this lovely lady. Once a foreigner sees another doing something he’ll try himself. He just needs encouragement. I sat down with this lady munching on this snack and one by one curious tourists stopped and asked me what I was eating. It only takes one person to try.
After taking the night bus, I arrived in Hoian early yesterday morning. With poor air conditioning and too many people, the bus ride was as uncomfortable as you can get. At the four hour mark, our driver stopped at a restaurant for a half hour break. After unloading all his passengers he sped out of the car park and returned two hours later. Needless to say, we weren’t happy campers.
Battered but safe we arrived around 7 am. I took a quick shower at my hotel and ate breakfast at the restaurant. This week in Hoian, there’s some sort of Buddhist holiday so Vietnamese news reporters and photographers are out in full force. And they all seem to be staying at my hotel. What a rowdy bunch these men are. One of them invited himself to sit with me at breakfast. He spoke very little English but he knew enough to tell me what type of camera he used and where is gallery is. I was too tired to take him up on his offer of a tour around Hoian on his motorcycle. Besides it was pouring rain and I just spent 12 hours on a damn bus. Tomorrow I will go see his photos.
The historical old town of Hoian is a living and breathing museum. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, there’s buildings and structures here that date back to the early 19th century or earlier. You really need to see the beautiful architecture to believe it. What I really like are the narrow cobblestone roads and the variety of wooden buildings.
Touts or hawkers have been banned from the city centre so it’s a welcome change from everywhere else in Vietnam. No one is harassing me to buy anything. Truth be told though, the other reason people come to Hoian is for the tailor shops. This is one of the best if not the best places in Asia to get clothes made. People come here to get whole wardrobes made.
No doubt the inhabitants know this and have capitalized on this money making business. I was in the market yesterday and I was approached at least five times to come look at patterns. I only said yes once. That’s all it took. I didn’t spend a lot but I had two tops, one dao and three pairs of short pants made. At that I had to restrain myself and keep to my budget. All in good fun.
So yesterday and today, I have been walking around and taking photos. I wanted to go to this historical site, My Son, but since I am alone, every tour place and cyclo driver wants to overcharge me by ridiculous amounts of money. So for once I said screw it and ignored this tourist hotspot. Who said you have to see every historical place in every historical city? Six months from now, I will probably have trouble remembering what the heck I saw anyway.
I’m taking a cooking class tomorrow and then the next morning I am off to Hue. I am supposed to fly to Hong Kong on April 1, but I will try to change my ticket. I want another week in Northern Vietnam. There’s supposed to be some great hiking opportunities up there.