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Eating so much, we need new clothes...
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We've recently worked out that we've taken around 20 overnight trains so far this year and most have gone relatively smoothly, at least that was until we boarded our carriage in Nha Trang for the 12 hour plus journey to Hoi An. The two of us and about ten other Westerners were trapped in the corridor, unable to get into our compartments, because people were already asleep in our beds. This wouldn't have been so bad if they'd moved when we arrived, but they'd paid the train guard good money to sleep there and they weren't going anywhere until he put his hand in his pocket and refunded the cash. He on the other hand took some persuading - it was obvious he'd been drinking quite heavily and equally obvious
that giving up the money was going to pain him. It took a full hour of negotiation to get our beds (we felt slightly guilty: I had a young couple in mine and Jim had to evict a mother and small baby), but we managed in the end and settled down for an uneventful journey.
In the Rough Guide to Vietnam one of the 32 unmissable things to do in the country is to get some clothes made in Hoi An, I expressed an interest, but Jim was adamant that it was an expense and weight in our backpacks we didn't need. However, once you see all the tailors shops and see that they make shoes and handbags to match, the temptation really is too much. We were restrained though - I only had a skirt, top and dress made up. I was planning a lightweight beach dress - in hindsight, a strapless, bright red silk cocktail design was a little OTT, so it's been posted home and I'll have to re-think the beachwear for Thailand!
Jim opted for a more sensible suit - which will probably also prove useful when we return home. The number of shops in town selling oversize suitcases to tourists testifies to the amount of business the tailors do and we were pleased to see that we were following in some august footsteps - no less a luminary than Mick Jagger got suits made in the same place as Jim.
Whether or not the Rolling Stone also chose to sample some of the delicious local cuisine is unrecorded, as the restaurants seemed to be doing a roaring trade without advertising their previous clientele.
One thing many of them did advertise though were cookery classes. We opted to do a two hour one in a small restaurant overlooking the river. For $10 each we learnt how to prepare a feast: crispy wontons with sweet and sour sauce, vegetable spring rolls, mackerel barbecued in banana leaf and squid with garlic and lemongrass. The class was so much fun, especially as
it was just the two of us. It was very hands on and quite public too as we were working on a little table at the back of the restaurant. After we'd chopped, filleted, pounded and sliced away for an hour and a half we sat down to sample the fruits of our labour with a cold beer at a table next to the open front of the restaurant watching the river and the people float by. As long as we don't lose our crib sheets you can all look forward to Vietnamese feasts when we get home.
While it's true that cooking (eating) and shopping did feature quite highly on our trip to Hoi An, we did also manage some sightseeing. The town's heritage is quite multicultural - the architecture fuses Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and European influences. Most of the lovely old colonial style villas have been turned into shops or restaurants now, but a few of the old merchant's houses are open as museums where you can see how immigrant families from China made their fortunes trading tea and silk after they fled their homeland when the Ming Dynasty collapsed. The town's emblem - the Japanese covered bridge - was originally built in the mid 16th century and along with the numerous Chinese assembly halls helps to give Hoi An a cosmopolitan feel.
Whilst the buildings were interesting and taught us something of the ancient port's history, one of the best shows in town was wandering through the chaotic market where every type of fruit, veg, meat and fish was for sale. The vendors' displays were dazzlingly bright - piles of cerise dragon fruit, emerald green herbs, speckled quail's eggs and garlands of flowers made picking your way through the stalls tricky at times.
We got up uncharacteristically early on one day to see the brightly painted fishing boats landing their catches just behind the market. Between 6am and 7am the place was alive with fish wives sorting, gutting and bartering their wares - it was great to watch them, but you had to be careful not to get caught in the hustle and bustle and find yourself
covered in raw fish juice! Another great thing about the market at that time was the relative lack of other tourists. Because Hoi An is rightfully extremely popular with travellers it was quite hard to escape them at times; but while the crowds are still noticeable, they're not as overwhelming as they were on our arrival in Hanoi a few weeks ago.
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| 101. | Eating so much, we need new clothes... - Hoi An, Vietnam Jan 04, 2007 (  14 ) |
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