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  Hoi An, Vietnam
Friday, July 4, 2008

We spent a VERY solid 24 hours on the bus between Saigon and Hoi An on Wednesday. There are few places like a bus to make one feel like his style is being cramped (thanks Tyson). Hoi An was worth it, though. We arrived in the town pretty early in the morning and booked a hostel for $10 ($3.33 a person, how can one complain?) with free Internet and in a good location. We found ourselves a good noodle stand for breakfast and then slept on a bed until one o'clock. In the afternoon, we rented two motorbikes and took turns driving around the city. We spent a couple hours at the beautiful beach. Those were a nice couple hours, but I was disappointed that the waves were only about a foot tall.
That evening we found a book exchange shop that was ran by an American gentleman. We stopped in so that Alban and Phil could find some books because they enjoy reading. I mostly just chatted with the owner. He had only just moved to Vietnam a couple of years ago to spend the last five years of his life that the doctor said he would have. In a couple years he will sell this place and move to Thailand. He was a really neat guy and I enjoyed talking with him. He invited us to his Fourth of July celebration for today. He had steaks and tons of beer that he was willing to share with us if we only celebrated with him. Alas, our bus was leaving early in the morning and we had to decline.
Instead, we are now on a stopover of our second 24-hour bus journey. Really, this is kind of a rip-off of a Fourth of July. So much for going to the park and watching fireworks tonight, that is always a highlight of my year. We are in a cafe, and I thought I would at least get myself some good American freedom fries to celebrate, along with a pineapple juice. The fries were stale, and the juice, ironically, came with a little British flag. I mean, come on, on the fourth? Do these people know nothing about American holidays?
Nevertheless, we are thoroughly enjoying our down time in this cafe, even under the smothering cigarette smoke and deafening American and Vietnamese classics puncturing our ears.
Anyway, we'll be leaving in a couple hours for Hanoi. with some luck, we'll end up with a driver who won't honk at the crickets in the road and actually keep focused on his driving rather than his cell phone. The guy from Saigon to Hoi An struggled with these problems...also with drooping his head downward for long periods of time, paying no attention to his driving.

Same Same, but different.

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