To begin my day, I joined the part 2 of my Hue city day tour by visiting 3 royal tombs from various dynasties. At the hotel's breakfast, I met a lovely elderly couple from Australia who were also in the group. "Auntie" Vien was vietnamese too so it was fun to get some language lessons from her.
Our first stop was an incense making and conical hat making village. It was fascinating to watch and the conical hat is distinguished in Hue city as "poem hats" where they tell a story through pictures on the hat. We then headed to the royal tombs. We got to pick and choose which tombs we wanted to enter since they were 55,000 Viet. dong (about $3) to enter each. I got some tips from folks I met yesterday that two of them were similar so I waited outside for an hour to one of them while the others who wanted to enter did so.
While waiting, I met a fun Portuguese speaking, South African born, London living guy (how's that for culture...I loved it!). We were heading in opposite directions so exchanged the names of hostels/hotels we liked and recommended. I finished up my tour and got on the 3 hour bus ride to Hoi An.
On that bus ride, I met a lovely couple from the UK whom had just recently moved to Da Nang (the big city stop on the way to Hoi An town). They had just finished up 9 years living and working in Kathmandu. Since my flight to Saigon is early Monday morning, they offered for me to stay the night at their place in Da Nang tomorrow night so I wouldn't have to get up so early to get a 45 min. bus to the Da Nang airport (Hoi An does not have an airport). What lovely and generous folks and so I am taking them up on their offer and will meet them tomorrow afternoon at the bus station and stay the night with them. I am looking forward to their company and know that they will have some amazing stories from their 'abroad' life.
Here in Hoi An....I am literally in food and clothing heaven. The prom girls at school would just die....as dresses, suits, skirts, shoes, you name it are all tailor made for you with your measurements...ranging from $20-$50...you get what you pay for I hear! And the food, I had dinner of delicious "cao do" noodles (a specialty food in Hoi An which is doughy flat rice noodles in a broth with sprouts, greens and topped with sliced pork) and passion fruit and chocolate mousse dessert for $2.50 tonight...amazing! I can see how and why so many people love it here.
The town itself is small...only about 130,000 people. But it's definitely a lively little one especially at night which I just experienced. The lights come on in town and the riverfront has giant animal floats along it. The smell of bbq'd meats on the grill and the sound of laughter in the air definitely gives it some flair and I look forward to experiencing it during the day tomorrow.
With that thought, I have three realizations thus far into my 9 days of traveling so far
1. I have NOT met one single American traveler
2. Vietnamese people don't really wear sunglasses
3. I saw my BLUE sky today. Gone are the warm clothes needed in Northern Vietnam and Hello to the tank tops and mosquitos (Yes, I have a mosquito net in my room tonight)
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