I survived the overnight bus from Nha Trang and arrived in Hoi An after a night filled with stressful dreams about being stuck on a train to London. (? - No idea.)
After checking in at the hostel I spent a few hours wandering around the area, and came to understand why Hoi An is THE clothing destination of Vietnam. Nearly every street was filled with shops specializing in custom made clothes and accessories.
Suits and button-downs, dresses and heels. Even shorts, ties, jackets and sneakers! And the shops that don't design clothing and shoes are filled with ready-to-wear jewelry, t-shirts, and silk scarves.
In Hoi An, you can create any outfit you can imagine and have it specially made and tailored just for you -- for the right price, of course. (And let me tell you, those shopkeepers drive a hard bargain.) I decided just to wanderer and price shop a bit, soaking in the quaint charm of the city
and focusing my attention, and funds, on Hoi An's specialty food offerings instead: "white rose" shrimp dumplings, crispy wontons, and these amazing savory pancakes you make your own rolls with using fresh greens and rice paper.
That night at dinner I met and chatted with Howard and Arvid from Norway. When I returned to the hostel, my doorm-mates (Mathius and Lewis - two great guys from Denmark, and Jack - a wonderful, friendly, and super fun Aussie) and I had a few beers out on the back patio and started playing pool. Which developed into several wickedly fun bouts of drinking games. And that eventually led to us getting nearly everyone at the hostel bar play! Then we all headed off to a local bar with a crazy nightly drink special of all you can drink mixed drinks for roughly $5, where I ran into Arvid and Howard. Later, in the pouring rain, Howard and I shared a motorbike taxi back to the hostel (where he realized he had lost his shoes at some point during the night) and I took a page out of the weather's book and poured myself into bed.
The next day (after waking up to hear that Jack had ALSO lost his shoes out somewhere the previous night .... boys.) I succumbed to the shopping pressures of Hoi An, but restrained myself fairly well. I replaced a lost shirt, got some more baggy traveling clothes, and splurging a bit on a nice necklace and some custom made sandals.
The following day I was scheduled to do a tour of Marble Mountain, which is a series of Buddhist temples carved into five mountains just outside of Danang. Buuut it got cancelled. So I rescheduled it for the next day and rented a bicycle instead. I rode all over Hoi An and the surrounding area, visiting the beach where American soldiers are rumored to have vacationed during the war,
all through the old city of Hoi An,
and around Cam Nam island across the Thu Bon river.
I also stopped for all the street food I could handle: bahn mi sandwiches, stuffed squid, and donuts filled with sweet black bean and soy bean paste.
That night Jack's travel friends arrived and he invited everyone to join the group for dinner. Even though it was a day late and mostly with strangers, sitting at a table packed with fifteen or so people all eating and drinking and talking and laughing made it feel like I was having my own, personal, southeast Asian Thanksgiving.
The tour to Marble Mountain successfully happened the following day. On the way we stopped at a carving village at the base of the mountains where huge Buddhist statues are made out of the local marble, quartz, and jade.
The views both inside
and outside
the mountains were beautiful, and I even got to learn a Buddhist chant in Vietnamese. Back in Hoi An, Kristy, who I met at dinner the previous night, taught me how to ride a motorbike!
(An automatic, but with busted breaks and in the rain so I was still pretty pleased.)
Later I picked up my new sandals, treated myself to wine and Indian food for dinner,
(all the comforts of home)
and spent the late evening in the old city, wandering along the river, watching the floating lanterns.
And so, it was FINALLY time to leave Hoi An, after spending nearly two days longer there than I had intended (cancelled tour, grumble grumble). However, the silver lining was meeting Kristy who, like me, was planning to go caving at the Phong Nha-Ke Bahn national park. We decided to team up and headed out of Hoi An early that morning with a pit stop in Hue as our first destination.
