A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
My first day in Hoi an was all about ME ME ME! After suffering through that 24 hours on the bus from hell, I definitely deserved some relaxation and shopping. Major tourist activity could wait until later in the week.

So I slept in, though not as late as I would have liked. Turns out my hotel room is rather too close to the town fresh fowl market. Consequently, the roosters made their presence painfully and loudly known from about 3:30 am onward. Surprisingly, this didn't really bother me that much -- a testament to how exhausted I was. In any event, I plan to switch rooms.

After a late breakfast involuntarily shared with a 16-year-old Vietnamese girl who wanted me to teach her english and/or purchase tailored clothing from her aunt's store. As I am still wearing a brace, I was able to teach her "broken arm" and "I had an accident", and was firm in my refusal to commit to tutoring strangers on my vacation, no matter how relentlessly she pressed the issue. English is a ticket up the economic ladder here in Vietnam, and its more ambitious residents will go to great lengths for free lessons.

The rest of the morning I spent wandering around town. Hoi An is a very well-preserved (read: not bombed in the war) small city on the banks of the Thu Bon River, about 3 miles from the South China Sea. Over the centuries the city has served as a major Asian port, bringing sizable communities of Japanese and Chinese tradesman into the area. As a result the architecture here is fascinating, strongly influenced by Chinese, Japanese and French settlers. Elaborate columned and balconied French style buildings from the 1800s stand alongside centuries old homes, businesses, temples and assembly halls built by foreign traders. Apart from the temples, the architecture is not in the red and gold dragon-centric Chinese design mode, of which I am not at all fond. Most of the buildings here combine Japanese and Chinese elements, and are more along the lines of what you would see in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon -- shell-shaped bi-angled tile roofs, high ceilings, courtyards, heavy dark timbers, front porches, and windows that are closed for the day with removable wooden planks. The huge amount of wood construction in this unusual style here in Hoi An gives the town a sort of weird Asian Old West kind of vibe.

Though I haven't gone through any of the officially designated historic buildings, one of the great things about Hoi An is that it's overflowing with art galleries and seafood restaurants, many of which are situated inside these gorgeous ancient houses. Honestly, this is a paradise for the art lover. It was a piece of cake to blow 3 hours exploring Vietnamese paintings while drinking in the beautiful timeless design all around.

After sampling the local specialty of Fried Wontons for lunch, I continued All About ME day by ordering two custom-tailored shirts and having a manicure and pedicure. The manicurist and her aged mother/grandmother/whatever worked the "you want fries with that" selling angle with great enthusiasm. While I was imprisoned in the chair with one arm and one leg in the air, the toothless elderly lady gave me a sample of a massage while the manicurist made a surprise move up my leg to remove my leg stubble by hanking them out indifidually with a crossed piece of string. Yeeeouch! The whole time I was making mewling noises, squirming and telling her to stop she kept saying it didn't hurt. Liar! Man, these Vietnamese have cornered the market on painful personal care activities.

The remainder of the day was spent sipping iced coffee and writing at a riverside cafe, and having dinner with a slightly insane Australian couple. Now if only I could catch up on my sleep!

© 2003 Katy Warren

posted by Katy at 1:44 AM