Hoi An was so lovely! It's a small town with a little river running through it and a cute bridge to connect the two sides with colourful little boats and all the surrounding buildings are lit with colourful lanterns! So cute!
I'm also not exaggerating when I say that there are about 500 tailors in the city. It's pretty much the only industry in town, just shop after shop after shop all next to eachother filled with fabrics and beautiful clothes and peppy little Vietnamese women politely asking you to take a look at their stuff. I actually got one, JUST one, dress made and it turned out really nice.
Brock, on the other hand, went to town. After trying to take him shopping for 2 years it turns out this was the best way to get him new stuff. With stacks of catologues and half a dozen cute ladies flattering him to no end, he came out with a bunch of shirts, pants, and two winter jackets that all look amazing and cost about 10 times less than it all would back home. And they made everything in less than 3 days, haha really it's so funny because less than 24 hours after we ordered we were in for a fitting... and for some reason when Brock was trying his stuff on, it took all the ladies to poke and touch and feel that it all fit him, hmm.
Funny story: when we were in Vinh Brock had gone out to get some waters and while he was standing in the shop these three men came up behind him all creepy like, but when he turned around they were just measuring themselves against him. They were clapping him on the back and were so excited to meet such a tall man.
So Hoi An was good times until our very last day when the typhoon decided to make its first appearance. Our bus left at 6pm and was meant to be about 12 hours long.... though at midnight it stopped and the driver said, "30 minute break, go back to sleep." Well, that 30 minute break lasted for EIGHTEEN HOURS!
I suppose I should add that before we stopped we had driven through a town that was a metre and a half under water. Flood waters were pouring in and out of houses, cars were almost floating haphazardly... and our bus drove through it all! We passed people in boats, it was surreal and awful to see that kind of damage.
So, back to the stopover. Apparently a landslide had destroyed part of a bridge and absolutely no one was moving North or South until it was fixed. There were 3 busloads of foreigners at this rest-stop, which fortunately was a restaurant, and after about 9 hours the people started getting restless. A group of them took it upon themselves to conspire that there was no broken bridge, that the storm had passed, and that the only reason we were "stranded" is because the drivers were getting a commission to keep us there so we'd continue spending money.
Another group went in search of other drivers who would tell them what was really going, others went in search of a hotel or phone, another group just complained loudly and abusively. Then there was a group of Irish content to drink beer, laugh, and play cards... we decided to fall in with this group and had a grand old time. Particularly since one of the crazy people had hitched a ride on a motorbike and promptly came back a half hour later to inform us that the bridge really was out and there was the longest line of vehicles waiting behind it that she'd ever seen and we should be so lucky that we were stranded in a place that had food and toilets. So HA, a natural disaster struck and all we lost was time, we should be so lucky.
And now we are in Nha Trang where we are meant to be beaching it up and doing all sorts of fun water activities, but it's still cloudy and rainy here so we're holed up in our room with a box (yes, a box) of wine, snacks, and the HBO movie channel until it clears up or until we decide to leave.
Only 2 weeks left!
