Hoi An is an old fishing village that has become popular with roaming travellers over the last couple of years. It has an Old Town bursting with tailor shops desperate to create you a new wardrobe; leather shops willing to make your own designs from scratch, and ladies selling trinkets, accessories and bags on every corner. There is a Central Market selling fresh produce but also filled with makeshift restaurants selling their traditional specialities. There was banh mi (the Vietnamese-style baguette) available left, right and centre and, finally, the food all looked really fresh and appetising! If I was to describe Hoi An in one word it would be "cutesy", with most of the buildings a faded yellow colour and narrow streets.
There is apparently an amazing beach, although unfortunately I didn't seize the opportunity to visit as the weather was hot but cloudy. Our hostel was also really quite nice, despite that the wifi was down the majority of the time. It was probably my favourite place in Vietnam that we have stayed in so far.
The long:
Sunday:
After a well-deserved lie-in Ronnie and I set out to explore the Old Town. We made a bee-line for the Central Market and checked out all that it had to offer.
It was around midday and absolutely rammed full with customers getting their lunchtime feed. It was so nice to see how the locals live and eat and Ronnie didn't hesitate at the chance to join in. She ordered a Vietnamese noodle soup with pork, which was extremely tasty, and cost 65p.
Afterwards, we spent the afternoon with the others traipsing in and out of virtually every tailors in Hoi An, spending far too much money and adding heaps to our luggage weight. It really did make me realise how cheap it is to produce clothes and how utterly ripped off we are by designer brands back home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trading in the Prada just yet (wink wink), but the premium we pay is fairly outrageous. I put an order in for a leather bag to be made, for which I chose the specific leather I wanted, the size, buckle and stud colours, for £26. Although that's not cheap, I would probably pay close to £100 for the same thing on the High Street back home, and then at least another 1,000 people have it. Everyone else went wild with dresses, playsuits and t-shirts, and we all returned to the hostel at the end of the day pretty chuffed with our expenditures.
Having lost 2 of the girls in our group to Ho Chi Minh City, the rest of us all went out for a meal to celebrate another girl in our group's birthday.
Finally, a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. And not only that, but by far the best Vietnamese food that I have had since arriving in the country.
^ And FRESH SPRING ROLLS, yaaaay!
We had organised for a cake to be made for Raj, so myself and the other Raj (rather confusing I know) surprised her with it. Her reaction was adorable as we all caught her completely off guard, so she ended up getting a little emotional.
I'm still not entirely convinced by Asian cake-making skills (that's not to say I didn't finish all of mine, of course), but it was a really, really lovely evening. Most people were exhausted from the shenanigans the night before so Ronnie and I ended up the only 2 who went to Sunflower hostel for an aperitif. We didn't last long though as we were equally shattered, so I was in bed snuggled up not long after midnight.
Monday:
After checking out I ran off to a spa that I had spotted to get my eyebrows and eyelashes tinted, since with every day that passes I am looking more and more like an albino. When I arrived the lady told me that she could not do my eyelashes as she only had hair dye and was afraid of what this would do to my eyes. After giving her a tutorial in how to do it and her rummaging around producing a miniature paint brush, I decided it was not worth the risk of losing all my eyelashes and we agreed to do eyebrows only. It was very obviously the first time that she had ever done it, as she was constantly asking me questions about how to do it and asking me to check in the mirror. I can't say I've ever had hair dye on my eyebrows before, but they did pick up some of the colour, although, unfortunately, so did the skin around them. I forgave her as I had got the strong impression she had no clue what she was doing and I still plunged ahead. It was also the first time I have ever had my eyebrows threaded; bloody hell that doesn't half hurt! A day of first experiences it would seem. Oh well, for £4 I was hardly going to complain and hopefully the stained skin will die down in the next few days!
I met up with the others and we all ventured back into Old Town, with me snapping the various attractive temples en route:
Both Ronnie and I were having items made in the same areas so we set off for our fittings and agreed to meet the others later. I collected my silk trousers first, which I must say I loved, and with just a few minor alterations fitted me perfectly. All I need now is a nice, tight white t-shirt to wear them with! Ronnie got her dresses, which she was very chuffed with, and then we went in search of food. I'd had breakfast not long before so wasn't particularly hungry, but Ronnie had not yet eaten, so we went to the most famous banh mi stall in the whole of Vietnam to pick up some grub. This is the place:
There were 2 ladies working the station and it was so cool watching their nimble, graceful fingers speedily and skillfully picking up ingredients with chopsticks and packing the baguette full. Ronnie got a pork one whilst I opted for an ice-cream and a coconut:
The whole hour that we were there people constantly came by and there was often a fair-sized queue waiting to be served. The ingredients all looked so fresh (for a nice change) and the ladies didn't skimp on filling, which is always important. We strolled around some more and went to a great looking coffee shop before I went to collect my bag from the leather shop and Ronnie skipped off for her final dress fitting. I must say that I wasn't expecting quite so much red to be featured on the bag, but I do think it will grow on me and everyone kept saying how gorgeous it was. At least no one else has it!
The sleeper bus to Da Lat was collecting Ronnie and I from our hostel at 5pm, so we managed to squeeze in a quick goodbye beer with some of the others before hopping aboard. It was actually really rather sad saying bye to people that I have spent such an intense amount of time with and I have become accustomed to seeing every day, but thankfully I will see a lot of them again on different days this week as they also independently begin to make their way South. Ronnie and I were going together with a guy that she met before the Buffalo Run tour with whom she had become an "item", his friend from Canada, and a nice guy they had met at their hostel from England. I had spent time with all 3 of them over the previous 2 nights and was looking forward to spending a few days together as a group, before meeting the others again. Getting on the bus all went pretty smoothly, until a family with a crying baby later got on, very much disturbing the peace and my hopes of a decent night's sleep.
Sitting on my top bunk writing this I think it's time for me to (try to) turn in for the night, with only 5 hours down and another 12 hours to go until we reach Da Lat. Wish me luck!
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