We Are Living In A Material World
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2005
1
29
45
Trip End
Jun 16, 2006
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Our first night in Hoi An, we walked through the town to look for dinner
Adorable Oldster Selling Rice
. The Lonely Planet (in a moment of actual wisdom) recommended a place called Cafe des Amis where there's a gourmet set menu either seafood, meat or vegetarian. Basically, there are about 4 courses brought out in succession: the Hoi An specialty of shrimp wrapped in a rice paper wrapper (well, sort of) called the white rose, grilled rice paper with veggies, another Hoi An specialty of puffy rice noodles with seafood, two different soups, a seafood/veggie stir fry and grilled shark. With a caramel custard for dessert. DELICIOUS! And after that, we had to walk around the town for a while just to get over being so full! (J: And the chef and owner of the restaurant wanders around making sure everyone reads the entries in his guestbooks and is enjoying their food. He was also great about answering all our questions about what we were eating since really it wasn't explained or written out anywhere.)The old town is great. It's several streets made up of buildings all smooshed together with ivy or flowers over some of the upstairs porches. It is on a river and is clearly set up for visitors - there are 200 tailor shops, restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, etc. Everyone told us that we should get clothes made there, plus, we needed gold strappy sandals for a certain wedding, so that was high on our list of priorities. It's funny because for the past 4 months, we've been wearing the same clothes over and over again. We're sick of them - we don't even like them at all any more. They never feel clean, no matter how often they're washed. They never smell clean, no matter how much detergent we use. They've been handwashed, machine washed, sprayed with perfume. And in them, we just feel like grubby travelers. So, the opportunity for something new was too good to be true. (J: Funny how we are still wearing our grubby travel clothes, though, no?!)
We ended up, coincidentally, at a small tailor shop with the absolutely cutest Vietnamese woman Hoang
Aspen, Chris, and Missy
. So sweet, so kind, great clothes and very cheap. She made the shopping more fun, but we both felt a bit embarrassed by it. I mean, we're traveling on a budget, so buying clothes wasn't something we had planned on. Still, I don't think it was so bad. And now, when we get to Scotland, we won't embarrass Erica, which is a good thing.Our second day, we woke up early and went to see the ruins of My Son. Apparently, about 35 years ago, these ancient temples were much more in tact, but bombings during the America war (J: or the Vietnam War, as we call it) have destroyed many of the buildings. They were cool and the setting was great and we met a number of very cool Americans. We haven't met many Americans at all on our travels, so meeting 5 all at once was really crazy. And fun. Three of them had just been in India and gave us some great advice on where to go and what to do.
Also in Hoi An, we took a cooking class. While it was not nearly as good as the one we took in Thailand, we did learn to make rice paper (and thus, rice noodles!), as well as another Hoi An specialty consisting of a shrimp pancake rolled in rice paper. Plus, we met two more Americans who were lots of fun and with whom we had a drink at the end of the day.
Danag
It was really hot in Hoi An. So, we only did a bit of sightseeing. Temples, museums, etc. Mostly, we walked the streets, ate fried wontons with sauteed vegetables and white roses, drank fresh fruit shakes of mango, banana, pineapple, dragon fruit, etc. (J: And so I wondered, Can you ever have too many fruit shakes? It just doesn't seem possible.) and noticed that if you entice people with material things, the likelihood that they will take part is extremely good. (J: We're not proud.) How do you pass up cheap, good, made to order clothes? Ok, school shopping is done, then!
Back to Hanoi to go kayaking! And we gleckel on...
Comments
Yum! Yum!
I'm all about food(which isn't sucah a good thing these days.) Can't wait for all your newly acquired cookery demonstrated here.
I know you're already on to India, even though you haven't kayaked yet - this is like a Star Trek time warp episode.
Too tired to think of anything else.
LHK
D
embarrassing erica ...
you know the joy of embarrassing erica will never end because you got some pretty clothes! you will find something else to embarrass her about. probably all my secret stories that i have hidden from this country will all come out when you are here. hehehehe at least you will be here and that is all i care about!
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another note
i love that you guys have developed your photo poses to be quite sophisticated. hehehehe 'pick, pick' is definitely model worthy! hehehe makes me laugh.
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