October 7 - Vietnam: Hoi An
I woke up at 8:00 this morning, but Jon slept in which wasn't difficult because our room had no windows so it was almost pitch dark. So I spent the extra time getting caught up on the journals. At 10:00, we packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel, and we waited for the Vinh Hung II to send around their luggage/people mover to pick us up. I got in and Jon followed on Mrs. Thuy's motorbike.
Vinh Hung II
We checked into the Vinh Hung II, which is only about a year old and had a swimming pool. Jon did a great job negotiating a price with them yesterday, and for $15/night we got a room on the street-side first floor, which makes no difference to us after the noisiness of Hanoi. He also got the price down by agreeing to a "no breakfast" deal which also makes no difference to us. For these past few months, Jon and has developed strange aversion to eggs and all I really need is some bread for breakfast. So the money saving continues! The one thing we will not budge on, however, is air conditioning. It's a life-saving feature in this heat and we'd rather go without a meal than a cool room!
Mrs. Thuy's Shop
We went to Mrs Thuy's to do some shopping, which really means that we went with ideas for clothing designs and colors. Hoi An is a place full of tailor shops and - as Lonely Planet says - "you can replace your entire wardrobe for nothing". So we knew we would go to Mrs Thuy's and have her tailors make some stuff for us. The question was what.
So we went in and said hello to everyone and sat down to talk with "Little Thuy" - the girl who was to help us. We were given cold towels and water, and Little Thuy brought out a huge pile of catalogues from Next, Bloomingdales, Vogue, and other places. We flipped through and found a few styles that we liked. I knew I wanted a little linen dress, a long skirt to replace the red one from Nepal, a little black skirt, a blue tank top, and a new pair of sandals which they also make. So - after finding the styles Little Thuy and I set about finding fabrics in the many rooms of material there. (Jon, by the way, sat reading his book during this time). After choosing fabrics, Little Thuy got a multitude of measurements from me, including a trace out of my foot and measurements around my foot for the shoes.
Then, everything was priced based on the material and the size of the pattern. So after finding out the price - which was much more than we wanted to spend - Jon and I set about eliminating things that really weren't necessary. It was a shame, because if I were here on a regular vacation I really WOULD replace significant parts of my wardrobe. But since we're to continue traveling I really only want to replace the worn things in my backpack. So I got rid of the long skirt (the red Nepal skirt will have to last longer, although Jon thinks I should just throw it out), and I also crossed off a dark blue silk dress that was a splurge for me. In addition to this, I knocked off the lining for some of the other items. All in all, I got a custom-made dress, skirt, shirt, and pair of sandals for the incredibly low price of $50!
Mrs Thuy had shown up by this time and - looking at the things I was buying - decided that the little black skirt HAD to have lining so she threw that in as a gift. She also gave us a "Friend-of-Grant's" Discount of 10% so the incredibly low price was now $45. (We hope to see Grant again in Thailand, at which time we will ply him with drinks as a thank-you). Very happy, we prepared to leave and they told us to come back at 6:00 for fittings.
Thu Thuy Tailor Fashion
60 Le Loi Street
Hoi An, Vietnam
Tel: 84.510.861699
Fax: 84.510.863842
Email: tthuy.ha@dng.vnn.vn
Lunch at Ly Cafe 22
We went to Ly Cafe 22 again for a late lunch because Mrs. Ly is a particular friend of Mrs Thuy and we were so thrilled with Mrs. Thuy that we wanted to spread the good feeling. (and also because Cafe 22 was delicious so it was hardly an inconvenience.) We ordered the Cao Loa and the fried wantons and loved every bite of it.
Back to the Beach
After lunch, we went back to the room to chill out for a while, and then decided to head to the beach. So we put on our bathing suits, lathered on the sunscreen, and hopped on Mrs. Thuy's motorbike and sped off to the beach. I can't describe the wonderful feeling of cruising through Vietnam on the back of the motorbike. The wonderful scents, the sun, the sights.... I was ridiculously sentimentally happy and this was just a silly bike ride.
On the way there, we passed Sue - the Intrepid Tour leader - on her bicycle also on the way to the beach. After we parked the motorbike we waited for her and walked to the beach, where the three of us got chairs and sat in the setting sun. The deal with the chairs, by the way, is an interesting operation. Chairs are free, but the people that "own" the chairs expect us order drinks and food from them. At the very least, we should order one drink per person. But the nice thing about the chairs we chose this time was that the "owner" kept running off the touts selling chips, nuts, and cigarettes because they were potentially eating into his revenue. Last night, we were overwhelmed with touts every few minutes selling stuff, so the peace and quiet he offered us was very nice.
Too Young for Love
But some adorable girls were allowed to get through selling pineapples. They refused to accept the statement that we didn't want any, and insisted on getting our names and the one said, "You want pineapple, you buy from me. L - E - E = Lee!". Sue, who leads many trips through Vietnam, was enthralled by these girls and teased them mercilessly about their pineapples saying, "Are yours the juiciest? The most ripe? The yellowist? Because I won't buy any other ones!". So Lee and her friend Chung ended up staying with us for a while, laughing and talking to us.
Lee and Chung have obviously been selling things on the beach for a while, because Lee later remembered Sue from a similar visit a year and a half ago. They even remembered the names of the people Sue was with! Incredible. After a while, two of their friends showed up and we all laughed at their antics. These girls are just like American teenagers (they are 14), but with Vietnamese accents. Chung told us that she can't date until she's 18 because "good Vietnamese girls don't!", but I teased her that she had a boy in school that she liked. To which she replied, "No way Jose! I'm too young for love!!". But her friends nudged her and teased her about some boy that she liked. Then we got the low-down on Lee, who apparently is the object of affection of a 10-year old boy. "He's a little boy!", she says, "Not a man!". It was such a riot, and Sue has a definite affection for these little kids so it was easy to put up with their occasional urges: "So, you buy our pineapples now!"
After the sun had set, we took our stuff and went back to the hotel where we had a quick dip in the pool. We would have hung out there for a while longer, but Jon looked up and said, "Do you see all those mosquitoes in the air?" Sure enough, they were everywhere. So we hopped out of the water and made a bee-line for our room where we showered and got ready for dinner.
Mrs Thuy's Part II
Before dinner, I went for my fittings at Mrs. Thuy's. The linen dress is beautiful, but needed some adjustment up top, as did the blue tank top. The black skirt was a little small but no worries. With a few swift markings from Mrs. Thuy's chalk everything was marked and sent back to the tailors. My shoes fit wonderfully, which is a wonderful thing since I have such HUGE feet! They are little slip-on sandals with black brocade silk material on top and they cost me all of $3. So great!
Treat's Happy Hour
We went around the corner to a bar called "Treat's" for happy hour, where Sue told us she'd be. Gin and Tonics were 2/$1 and beer was $.50 per bottle. So Jon, Sue and I hung out for a while until Sue's Intrepid Group showed up. After a while, Jon and I went back to one of the pool tables to play a game or two. But it was very hot in the back room and we were getting hungry. So we said goodbye to Sue and the gang and went to grab some food.
Faifoo's
We went to a restaurant called Faifoo's for dinner and sat in the doorway where there was a slight breeze. While we were waiting for our dinner, a little boy came to sell some whistles to another table in the restaurant. We saw him play a little joke on the girl by pointing to her shirt and - when she looked down - tapped her on the nose with his pointing hand. Even though it's a joke we all know, we thought it was funny to see him do it to a tourist. He left the restaurant but came back to our table 10 minutes later. While he was trying to talk Jon into a monkey whistle, I pointed to his shirt and said, "What's that?". He looked me right in the eye said, "No! I know that one!". After we all laughed, he proceeded to show us a few more little jokes he'd learned.
In one of them, he had Jon make "scissors" with the first two fingers on each of his hands. Then he had Jon join the two "scissors" together by linking his fingers. After this was done, the little boy grabbed Jon's fingers with one hand and tickled Jon with the other so that Jon couldn't defend himself because his own fingers were all entwined. It was such a riot!
After dinner, we went back to Mrs Thuy's because Jon decided he wanted some linen pants. While he was getting fitted, I logged in to check email.