Right now I am sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Hoi An freaking out becaue my bank keeps sending me notices that my card's threshold has been reached (several times), yet I have not used that card. It must be fraud. But, my user name and password (which I know by heart) are mysteriously not working any longer for me to check into my online banking. I feel so screwed. I can't seem to call out of the fucking hotel to check on it either, so I'm trapped with some asshole using my card every 29 minutes (it seems) and my bank sending me these panicky e-mails. I've asked them via e-mail to turn off the card, but I have received no response from them.
Needless to say, I am not in any mood to be typing about my beautiful two days in Hoi An. So, I'll write a list to fill in later:
(It is now later, and the bank is still being super unhelpful. Shame on BECU. But I am going to try not to worry about it and enjoy my time here. When I get home I will argue to have the charges removed as I have contacted the bank several times in several different media (phone/e-mail/web) to have them turn off the card. Since they refused to turn off the card, I don't think I should pay for any charges that ensue. Again, shame on BECU for being so unhelpful. I don't think I will bank with them when I get back to the states.)
SO - My jounrey to Hoi An started with me waking up early at Huenino and eating a full and nice breakfast. Someone from the hotel drove me on their motorcycle to the bus stop where I waited for an hour for the bus to pick me up. I paid $10 for an open ticket from Hue to Hoi An - it should have cost $5 but I didn't feel like arguing or missing the bus. People scam westerners right and left here. If I had a more flexible schedule I could have shopped around, or haggled - but I am on a tight schedule to get from one place to the next.
One the bus finally arrived, it took another hour to pick up all the various travelers at their hotels. The bus was hot - the AC was broken, and the bus driver refused to allow us to open the windows. Everyone was very sweaty, but no one complained too much because there really was nothing to be done. It was either put up with it, or get off the bus.
An hour outside of Hue (2+ hours into our trip), the bus broke down. A fan belt broke (or so he says). We all pilled out of the bus - literally in the middle of nowhere - and waited. There were two houses near by, and one house decided to sell us some waters - which was nice. While waiting on the side of the road, I met and chatted with a nice Italian couple. The woman spoke no English and was a nurse, the man was a sort of civil engineer (and he did the translating for his wife). He asked for the toilet, and the Vietnamese man who owned the house pointed at a stream (in full view of everything). And Israeli woman and I asked if we too could go pee in the stream, and the man looked a little angry. Woman here are ment to be more demure. But, we really needed to pee - so a bunch of us women decided to go together, thinking it might be harder to harass us in a group...We peeed on the muddy ground, in full view of all the Vientamese and tourist bus riders.
There was one Vietnamese man on the bus who spoke fair english and translated that the bus was broken down and it would take over an hour for a new bus to come. Fine. We all figured 1 hour really meant 3, so we settled in to read/talk/play cards. Every 15 minutes or so, a local red bus to DaNang would come by and offer to take one of us tourists (but only one at a time strangly) to DaNang. Fron DaNang you would have to take an additional bus to Hoi An. A few of the lone male travelers opted for this, giving the bus driver of the local busses anywhere from $5-$10 for the ride (for locals, the ride was about $2). I thought it was a little sketchy that they would only take 1 Westerner at a time (why?) so I stayed with the larger group. To everyone's surprise, the new bus came in 1.5 hours - much earlier than expected. The new bus also had Air-Con, and was a much smoother ride. Nice!
Once we boarded the new bus, it was a very pleasant 2-3 hour ride to Hoi An. The bus took us through DaNang city center (DaNang looks pretty wealthy compared to Hue), and then we drove down famous "China Beach." China Beach, which did look beautiful - lined with palm trees and white sandy beaches - has been all bought up by outside develolpers. Luxuary hotel chains have brought stretched of the beach, sectioned it off, and have begun building uber-luxuary resorts. One right after the other - no public beach left. There were already 2-3 golf courses, and plans to build more. It will soon be one of the top playgrounds of the very rich - or so they hope. Now, if you want to go to the beach outside of DaNang, you have to go much further south (a car, not bike ride, away from the city). It was pretty sad to see all of the development and literally no one at the beach. Not even one lone beachcomber.
We arrived in Hoi An, and the open bus dropped us off at some random hotel (very common for the open bus to drop you off at a hotel who has paid some premium for the service). I was immediatly approached by a tailor named Ly, who had an amazing smile and very warm demeanor. I looked around her shop, didn't buy anything, but chatted with her about American (she has friends in New York). She then took me to my hotel (free of charge) on the back of her motorbike.
The hotel looked super fancy, and was pricey for Vietnam ($25 a night for two beds, although I only used one). I checked in and immediatly went to their rooftop pool (the only one such rooftop pool in Hoi An - the hotel is very proud). It was lovely to swim around even if the water was not very cold.
I showered and changed and decided to venture out around the city. Right next to the hotel I saw a shoe shop and decided to look around. MISTAKE! The very first shoe shop I stopped in I ended up getting talked into buying $100 of shoes. Hoi An is the tailoring capital of Vietnam, and the whole of the tourist trade focuses on making hand made suits, dresses, coats and shoes. I decided on shoes. For $100 US, I got three pairs of shoes made to my particular feet (I have narrow feet, one of which is a half size bigger than the other, so this actually was very nice). I got a pair of fake Frye cowboy boots made of brown leather, a pair of very nice blue mary jane shoes with blue leather and a wooden heel, and a pair of silk slipper shoes - black with grey trim. They measure your feet on day 1; on day 2 you go back for alterations, and day three you can pick up your shoes. I've already been for the alterations, and I really like 2 of the 3 pairs - the third needs to be fixed, and even then I don't know if I will like them - but oh well. YIKES! More money than I wanted to spend, but because I didn't really want the shoes I was able to haggle. Originally she quoted me $150, and I finally got it down to $100 - for just the boots it would have cost $70 - so for $30 more I got an additional two pairs. Let's hope I have room in my luggage. Again, yikes. Too splurgy. But this will probably be my only souvineer.
At this point I was really hungry, as I didn't have lunch (during lunch time I was in the middle of the Vietnamese country side by a broken down bus). I walked to a restaurant that was recommended by the book, Mermaid Cafe, and had a very nice (but expensive for Vietnam) meal. One upside to this restaurant was that it also served as a cooking school and the waitstaff there understood perfectly my dietary restrictions. I said "No shrip," and they said, "OK, no fish sauce too - right?" Excellent. They told me which items on the menu had no fish sauce and I settled on grilled squid in lemongrass. I also had a big beer, a can of Schweppes (pronounced with the 'pes' for Jared's sake), and a dessert fritters of bananna and chocolate. The total meal was around $9 US. A little pricy, but it was very good. In Vietnam you could really eat well on $5 a day if you only ate street food. I have found it difficult to order on the street to make sure there is no shrimp, so I have paid a little more to eat in places where I know no fish sauce will be used.
From dinner, I walked around Hoi An. Hoi An is really beautiful. I think I said earlier that it looks like a Hollywood set of 19th C Vietnam. With all of the French architecure, and the candle-lit lanterns everywhere, it is so picturesque. So easy to just wander around and stare at everything....I walked to and across the famous Japanese bridge, and wandered around the various islands connected to the city. Since this was an old trading town, there are many influences on the architecture: french, chinese, and japanese mainly - all three influences living side by side.
By this time it was already dark (sunset is around 6:30 pm here).
On my walk back, I stopped at a recommended shop called "Reaching Out." The shop is in one of the old wooden, chinese influenced buildings. The shop employs people with physical and mental disabilities and you can see the workers at the back of the shop making their goods. The goods were no more expensive than in other shops, and very nicely made. I got something for both Jared and my Dad (not telling what since they both might be reading this blog). I also went back later and got a little stuffed animal for myself. One of the workers, a small woman with some sort of mental disability, showed me around the shop. It was a really nice and friendly place - devoid of the hussle of the rest of the city. One not-so-nice thing about Hoi An is how everyone is trying to sell you clothes ALL THE TIME. As a white person, you don't get a moments peace without someone coming up to you...."I make for you same-same but different..." is the common phrase. If you show them a dress/handbag/shoes from a magazine, they can match the style and make it for you. They will say "Same-same but different," meaning they can make it look like the same, but different enough for you liking. An odd phrase, no?
I enjoyed my walk home, and then retired to my room where I turned on the A/C, watch 30 minutes of telly, and went to sleep.
Tomorrow: My Son (*amazing* I will totally use it in my dissertation), great food, full mooon festival, Scottish doctors against abortion....and more!
7am My Son
Meet nice german girl and school girl from U of Chicago who took classes w/ Nussbaum
Wood village
Pool
Check on shoes /
Walk around festival
cheap good dinner
lantern full moon festival
