Hoi An: Culture Vultures
Trip Start
Jan 18, 2011
1
55
74
Trip End
Dec 01, 2011
Where I stayed
Hoi An, Vietnam
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Lisa:
Another overnight bus took us from Hanoi to Hoi An and the town feels like a million miles away instead of 400 odd KM. Hardly any mopeds or traffic in comparison and beautiful little alleys and beaches and a nice river - it really feels like a totally different country! The town is famed for cheap tailors and has over 200 tailor shops apparently.
I decided to get a couple of dresses and a jacket made up (a bargain at £50 for the 3 items). On going back for my first fitting, the woman had got the fabrics and styles mixed up and wouldn't do anything about it - instead blaming me!
One of the dresses was so horrible it looked like a Japanese Geisha outfit. After some footstamping and evil glances they worked the dresses into something nicer so it kind of worked out. It wasn't the best experience though - I would not recommend Nhi Nhi tailors!
We decided to do a Cookery class since we enjoyed the one in Thailand so much and I adore Vietnamese food. We found a great class (called Gioan cookery school) and had a really nice and slighty bonkers teacher. We made fresh spring rolls, Pho and lots of other tasties. It seemed easy enough - but the truth will come out when we go home and attempt it ourselves....
Hoi An is a world heritage site with tons of old buildings, temples and assembly halls. We visited a few, taking frequent breaks since it was so hot.. In the Fujian Assembly hall where the rich Chinese merchants splashed out on a nice meeting area/temple, there were lots of large spiral incense burners. Inside them were wishes that locals had made, presumably for a donation.
One afternoon we hired bikes for a dollar each and cycled to the beach, and very nice it was. Very clean and lots of restaurants - Hoi An really has a lot going for it. I wished we could have stayed longer pootling about, but our flight to Hong Kong is only a few days away and there's lots of ground to be covered.
Over and Out, Lisa x
