Hoi An is my favorite city in Vietnam so far (although that's not saying much). I designed a dress, shirt and and pair of shorts to be made at Bi Bo tailers and had a pair of sandals made at a shoe store. All were made within a day and I went back for a fitting the next morning. The sandals fit well but the clothes needed to be altered slightly. So with that I headed to the beach. I heard An Bang beach, a few kilometers north of town was much nicer, so headed that way. Come to find out they don't put gas in the scooter tanks when you rent it so I had to find a gas station and fast. I asked 3 people before I finally found it. The attendant didn't give back the correct change when I paid (which occurs frequently when making a purchase in Vietnam amongst other scams) so always pay attention and count your money! It had been raining off and on all day and by the time I made it to An Bang beach a storm was brewing. Alas, I didn't get to swim at the beach so I wandered down a small pathway between beach bars and restaurants until I came across the coolest little beach shack ever called Soul Kitchen. I passed the day reading a newspaper that a crippled street vendor was selling (they come right into the restaurant to sell). Soul Kitchen was all open-air with just a roof. They had tables, couches, lounges and a pool table set up. They even had a hammock in 1 corner. And sitting right on the beach. After several hours I reluctantly pulled myself away so I could go back into town for 1 last fitting. When I retrieved my scooter, the attendant tried to charge me 20,000 dong when it only costs 5,000. I am getting seriously tired of all the scams. It was pouring all the way back into town. The fitting went well and I took my newly made clothes home. I had originally bought an open bus ticket to take me from Hoi An to Natrang, then Dalat and then HCMC but I was so tired of Vietnam that I just gave my tickets away and bought a flight to HCMC and I don't regret that decision at all!
