If my memory serves me correctly, we were somewhere on that first Monday in Hoi An and my initial stops at the tailors and shoe makers. Ahhh, yes…
The Aussies stopped back by Kimmie Tailors, at which point my orders were put in and ready to get started. The Aussies and I decided to meander about the town while having some catch-up conversation. They had left Hanoi via train headed to Da Nang on Saturday night around 11:00 p.m. or so. Somehow their train was delayed and was slower than anticipated, so they didn’t arrive in Da Nang until around 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon! They then had to take a taxi to Hoi An. They’d soothed over their train issues with a bottle of red wine (or perhaps two) during the exceptionally long ride! That made me thankful for my decision to fly to Da Nang rather than bother with trains and/or buses.
Our walk took us to the main market area. There were food stalls, food vendors (the ones carrying those double basket thingies), more tailors, flower vendors and those selling souvenirs and trinkets. However, if you so much as glanced at an item, you would be hounded. They’d keep saying that it was free to look, but they would give you some ridiculous price, refuse to go down much, then follow you around if you walked away. Do you know how annoying it is to be followed down the street, into other shops, and even up and down stairs by someone carrying a calculator, tugging on your sleeve and saying over and over “Madame! Madame!”?! It makes you not want to look at anything at all! We crossed over the bridge to the other side of the river to escape the madness. The other side of the river was decidedly quieter and more relaxed. We found a little restaurant way at the end that advertised “Fish and Chips,” though we split an order of nem (deep fried imperial rolls) and drank some beer. We wandered around some more, then I decided to break off on my own ’cause I was itching to get another massage. We agreed to meet in front of Faifoo later that night, then figure out our dinner options.
I ended up at Palmarosa for a massage and a heel treatment. The one hour massage was very good and performed by a woman. I DID keep my underwear on and she did NOT push the towel above my waist at any point. However, she did this weird thing where she took a smaller, thinner towel and placed it over my eyes, pulling it extremely tight at both sides a few times. I felt as if my eyeballs were being smothered! Otherwise, the rest of the massage seemed fairly standard. Let me point out that most massage places in Bali and, apparently, in Vietnam pop your fingers and toes while they massage you. I’m not particularly fond of that practice, but when in Rome… The heel treatment was half of an hour of my feet being washed, filed, massaged and lotioned up. I enjoyed it immensely.
After meeting with the Aussies in front of Faifoo and wandering around some more, we ended up at Banana Leaf for dinner. I had the White Rose Dumplings again. L. had them, too, when I told her that they were one of Hoi An’s specialties; she liked them. Can’t remember what J. had, but we drank beer, as usual. Our table was right at the front of the restaurant, open to the street, with a view of the river. That would have been perfect, except for all of the people who approach your table every few minutes in an attempt to try to sell you something. All of their little trinkets are overpriced and could be bought for cheaper at the market or even in a regular store. The bad thing about sitting at the tables in the front is that you can’t escape those vendors! After awhile, you simply say “We’re not interested in anything” when they approach, then continue eating and talking amongst yourselves, ignoring them as much as possible. They eventually go away, but it kind of puts a damper on dinner. The Aussies were quite amusing, though. L. was actually the mother of J. She lives in Australia and he lives in Qattar. They meet up for two weeks every year and have a nice little vacation together. Since it was L.’s turn to choose a place this year, she was the one who’d chosen Vietnam, as she’d never been there before. J. might have been there once, long ago. We agreed to meet up in front of Faifoo again the following night. We wouldn’t be having lunch together on Tuesday because I would be in the midst of my all-day motorcycle tour, just my Vietnamese guide and Yours Truly.
Which brings us to… well, not really. You thought I’d forgotten, right? I didn’t forget last Monday, either; it’s just that I was too damned tired from the day in Mai Chau to post anything at all. So it’s Musical Monday, y’all!!! You’re gonna’ get TWO, you heard me, TWO music videos today! The first one is because I was blasting it on my iPad mini that first morning in Hoi An. I’d gotten out of the shower, had the windows open to hear the street sounds going on below and was singing along to Ms. B. The second one is something that I’d seen on a music channel in Vietnam that intrigued me (the song, that is). Here you go. Listen away. There’s photos, too (after the videos).
“Kangaroo Court” – Capital Cities
Japanese Covered Bridge
Hoi An
Conical Hats in Hoi An
Hoi An