Saturday dawned EXTREMELY early for me, having gotten up around 3:30 a.m. or 3:45 a.m. to shower, dress and pack my cameras and accessories. Downstairs in the lobby, one of the hotel staff was asleep on a sofa and another was asleep on a cot. I sat there quietly in the dark. The guy in the cot woke up to use the restroom. He was quite surprised to see me sitting there, but assumed that I was being picked up for a tour. He smiled and unlocked the front door, then went back to sleep. Hoi An Photography Tours arrived promptly in a van at 4:45 a.m. Rather than Etienne, who I’d spoken to on the phone, it was the other owner/partner, Pieter, who picked me up, along with his driver. I was the first person being picked up, but there was also a couple, a single man and another single woman (who said that her husband was still asleep at the hotel) who joined me. We were driven to a ferry landing by the river and sat at a table to wait for the ferry, as well as to discuss what to expect. A very lively and vocal group of locals was seated at an adjoining table playing some type of gambling game. Meanwhile, Pieter apologized that, although rain hadn’t been predicted in the morning, it was most definitely lightly raining. He explained that we’d take a ferry to a fishing village known as Duy Hai to take photos of the locals bringing in the morning’s catch. Alas, there would be no beautiful sunrise due to the clouds and rain. The ferry ride was relatively short. At the village, we first photographed boats and the people bringing in the catch, then walked through the streets taking pictures of whomever and whatever we found interesting. Beings I didn’t find the Vietnamese particularly friendly, it was slightly awkward to greet random people in either Vietnamese or English, smile and ask to take their picture. If asked, a fair amount of people simply said “No.” There was an elderly Vietnamese man who obviously thought that I was Vietnamese, too. He walked up to me, smiled and began speaking in Vietnamese. I said that I didn’t speak Vietnamese, though have no idea if he could understand me or not (probably not). I also tried speaking to him in French, but got no response other than a smile. (A side note: I’d asked if most local people spoke French, but was told that usually only the older people speak French nowadays.) The photo I was most set on getting was that of an elderly man with a Chairman Mao haircut rocking a baby in a hammock. I’d seen him from the corner of my eye inside a house. Although I was hesitant to walk up to the house, one of the other guys urged me to and went with me. The elderly man smiled when he saw me. I pointed to my camera and towards the baby and him. He kept smiling, which I took to mean “Yes.” So I took one photo of him with the baby, then another of the entire family together. For lunch, Pieter had asked each of us whether we preferred a meat or a vegetarian banh mi. We went to a little cafe-type place and someone delivered the banh mi to us there. Aside from the questionable meat, my banh mi was pretty tasty; liked the fact that it had actual peanuts and peanut sauce on it. After lunch, we visited a fish sauce factory to practice taking photos in low light. That was difficult for me, as the smell of the fermenting fish sauce in huge barrels nearly knocked me out. I snapped a few photos, but had to run out in the street for air! When our tour ended, Pieter called a cab for the other single woman who didn’t want to ride a bicycle and was afraid of motorbikes. For me, he got one of the locals to take me back to Hoi An via motorbike for $2.50. I put on the helmet, got on back and off we went. The only words spoken between us were when he asked the address of my hotel. At the hotel, he didn’t even pull up in the driveway, but across the street. As I rummaged through my pockets for the correct amount of money, he seemed perturbed. When I paid him and thanked him, he pointed to my helmet, took the helmet, took the money and drove off without a word. There’s that Vietnamese friendliness factor at work again!!!
Back at the hotel, I freshened up, dropped off my cameras and went to pick up my finished clothing from B’Lan Tailors. She’d ended up altering 2 dresses made in Bali for me, and making 2 dresses, 4 dress shirts and a pair of pants for me. Everything looked great and fit well. She also gave me a silk pouch for jewelry/lingerie/whatever, as she said I was her best customer that week.
By then, I was hungry again and went to Faifoo for lunch. Their 5-course lunch of mini plates was a bargain at around $6.00; I had white rose dumplings, fried wonton, and cau lau as part of my choices. I was originally seated downstairs. As the downstairs began to fill up, they asked if I’d prefer to sit upstairs, which was much nicer. I sat right next to the open terrace window with a nice view of the street, and was the only customer up there – my own private dining room! After lunch, I raced back to the hotel for a quick nap.
True to his word, Hai’s friend, Than, showed up at 1:00 p.m. to take me to his village on his motorbike. The ride through the countryside to the ferry was picturesque. Wouldn’t you know it? His village turned out to be the one that I’d already seen that morning?! He had no way of knowing. When I’d spoken to Hai the previous night, I’d also had no idea exactly where Hoi An Photography Tours was taking me! Than still drove me around the outer parts of the village to places I hadn’t seen that morning. I managed to get a few more pictures, especially at the ferry landing on our way back. There was a family with a pet pig, so I took a few pictures of the little girl playing on a table while the pet pig was in the foreground.
Back in Hoi An, I decided to do a few of the touristy things. I took a boat ride on the river just was it was getting dark. The $2.50 boat ride lasted half an hour. The woman didn’t speak English, but she yelled something to me & motioned for me to duck, just was I was about to have my head taken off by a bridge! Next up was an hour cyclo ride for $7.50. The guy stopped somewhere to take a picture of me, but it was out of focus, of course!
I showered off at the hotel and went to Ancient Faifo for my final meal in Hoi An. Ancient Faifo is one of their more expensive restaurants which is in a beautiful two-story building. They seated me upstairs without a reservation. It was about 1/4 full, mostly with Aussies. A Vietnamese woman was just finishing singing a traditional song. She was followed by a young man playing classical piano. I chose from a set menu that offered my choice of either an appetizer and an entree, or an entree and dessert. I chose the latter. My entree was chicken done 3 ways – in a roulade, in a salad and on skewers, also with chicken broth. The dessert was white and dark chocolate with slices of pineapple, dragonfruit and some orange, very musky melon. The food was quite good. With my glass of real French red wine, my total bill was something like $15, which I found very affordable. In fact, it was cheaper than my so-so Italian lunch at Good Morning, Vietnam the previous day and in a much more upscale atmosphere. The staff and service at Ancient Faifo were excellent, as well as very friendly.
Boats in Duy Hai
Local Woman in Duy Hai
Boys in Duy Hai
Than
Boat Ride Under the Bridge
Art in Hoi An