August 26th
There was a bit of a kafuffle when we came to check out of our hotel this morninig. What we presumed to be complimentary food and drink in our room (in a basket with a ribbon on), turns out to be, for the budget traveller, a very expensive mini-bar (lesson learnt: never presume). There was no use in protesting as the receptionists couldn't speak English beyond "hello" and "how are you?" Over the past 3 days we had unfortunately devoured a packet of biscuits, some crisps, two cans of beer, water, a coke and some orange juices (it could have been much worse). Where I needed to raise my point, however, was that they were trying to charge us for items that were still in the fridge (one lady had gone up to check the room but had only looked in the basket and not the fridge). While this was going on, a minibus with two other passengers was waiting to take us to the bus station. It was no good, the only way of resolving it would be to run back up the 3 flights of stairs with the lady to open the fridge door and show her that although we were somewhat greedy, we had not consumed the entire contents of the basket. The matter was finally resolved and we made it to the bus station in good time for our 6am bus to Hoi An.
We actually get dropped off some 10 km outside of Hoi An and have to negotiate moped rides (in the prcoess of which I get agitated with Robbie for not wanting to negotiate at all and for us nearly paying the same amount for a 10 minute moped ride as our 5 hour bus journey that morning had cost. Robbie seems to think we will be stranded if we don't go with what the drivers say and I wonder how he can forget so easily that wherever we have been in Vietnam up until now, moped drivers have called out at us touting for business about every 15 minutes or so). As we set off on the bikes and I notice there is no right hand wing mirror on my one, a dozen questions race through my head: will I fall off if we go over a bump, will the driver try to steal my bag, grope my leg or take me somewhere else, is Robbie's moped following, what is the name of our hotel anyway, can I take my hand off the bike to push my helmet, which is covering my eyes, up, are we even near to Hoi An or did the bus just dump us there for the fun of it etc. etc ? As we both pull into the hotel, however, and I can take the helmet off to actually see again, all fears subside and I start to think how easy it was getting from the bus to the hotel and what fun it was to feel the wind in my face.
As the heat is intense, we decide to spend the afternoon at the hotel pool and so it's early evening before we wander into Hoi An. We love what we find: beautiful streets lit up by lanterns, old buildings which have been influenced by Chinese, Japanese and French styles, a river illuminated by the lights of restaurants and bars, little art and craft shops selling jewellery, paintings and chopsticks and an immense number of tailor shops with brightly coloured materials and elegant dresses on display. We find a restaurant down by the river and delight in some crab springrolls and grilled fish wrapped in banana leaves with lemmon grass and chilli. On the way home, I cannot resist. I enter a tailors and come out with a ticket for a dress and a top to be picked up the next day (totalling $32). Now that is the very reason why one should negotiate the cost of things like transport and accomodation as much as possible on this trip! :-)
August 27th
Robbie gives up on the heat at 11am and goes back to the air conditioned hotel room. Now if that was a calling to do some more shopping, I don't know what was! I enjoy exploring Hoi An, cross to the other side of the river and wander around the parts of town where there are no tailor shops, just Vietnamese getting on with their daily lives. I watch the fishermen, the ladies carrying products here and there on their shoulders, children coming back from school, lunches being prepared on the streets. I return to the hotel mid afternoon, hot and sweaty and with a couple more tickets in my pockets for clothes to be collected later. Will I tell Robbie or will I just produce items from my rucksack a few weeks later and pretend they had been so deeply burried that I hadn't got round to wearing them yet? I tell him, he smiles, I say, "what's a girl to do?"
August 28th
Not much to report. A similar day to yesterday with Robbie opting to escape the heat mid-morning and me pottering around the streets of Hoi An. The market is amazing, colourful, busy and noisy with mopeds forcing their way between the stalls. Imagining a whole lot of waiting at various places and in various modes of transport in the 11 months to come, I haggle on a pack of cards (for practice) and tell myself that I must get Robbie more into playing games. I buy two bus tickets for travelling up to Hue tomorrow and then join him back at the hotel and dive straight into the pool.
***
Evening meal with Richard and Linda (from the sand boarding trip) who are now also in Hoi An. Robbie and I were a little shocked when we opened the menus of their chosen restaurant ... the prices were more than 3 times what we had paid when eating out the last two evenings in Hoi An. They saw that we were a bit worried and told us they had already decided that they wanted to pay for the meal before we came. We refused (they are on their honeymoon, we should be treating them!) and in the end, when the bill arrived and we shuffled money to and fro across the table for about 5 minutes, they took some of our money but paid for more than half. They probably won't ever read this but my thanks go out to Richard and Linda! We owe you a nice meal one day!
