Spending some quality time in Hoi An

Hello again from SE Asia! As we've told some of you in one-on-one conversations, Amit and I decided that during our travels, we would try to spend more time in fewer places, rather than spreading ourselves thin moving from place to place every day or two. We heard from other travelers that one of the best towns on the Vietnamese coast between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was town of Hoi An. A little worn out from our fast-paced tour through Northern Vietnam, we decided to skip some of the other well-worn backpacker stops along the coast and go straight to Hoi An for some quality time. Hoi An is known as a quiet, quaint "old town," with some beautiful historic sites, several gorgeous white sand beaches near by, and a slow, country-style pace. Hoi An is also known for its very talented tailors... but more on that later. Our first few days in Hoi An, we wandered the streets of the historic district, visiting the ancient Community Assembly Halls (which used to be fancy, ornate government buildings) and temples. On our second night there, we had the privilege of attending Hoi An's Legendary Night, a monthly celebration of the full moon where the historic district fills with street performers and food stalls, and tons of people from around the area come into town to party. This month's Legendary Night also coincided with the city's annual Heritage Festival, so there was a big performance in the town square, with lots of local government officials and other big wigs in attendance. As "special guests" to the town (I think all the tourists were considered special guests!), we got free seats to watch the performance, which was a more amateur version of the fancy Wine Harvest Festival performance we saw when we were in Mendoza. Fun to be able to time our visit for this event! As part of the Heritage Festival, a large flea market opened up across the river from the historic district. We suspected that we needed tickets to get into the flea market, but pretended to be dumb tourists and the security guards let us in for free (hey, we're on a budget!). What the guards probably knew, but we didn't know at the time, was that our low tolerance for Asian crowds would quickly drive us out of the flea market, making our ticket purchase a waste. There were SO many people in the market, it felt a little like our picture of the Koi from Shanghai (I'm trying to get you to keep up with our blog by making past references! Tricky, eh?)! I've included a picture to the right so you can get a sense of the experience. We were able to walk around for about 10 minutes before desperately breaking for the exit in order to breath again! The rest of our time in Hoi An was spent relaxing on the beach (see picture to the right), renting bikes and riding around some of the area villages, taking our first regional cooking class, and visiting a local tailor for some custom-made clothes. Yes, we caved to the classic Asian shopping experience of having custom clothes made for us. We decided to limit our clothing purchase in Hoi An because we've also heard that the tailors in Bangkok make very good business suits, so we just had a few dress shirts and pants made to get started. After our clothes were finished, we decided to ship them to our final hotel in Thailand, saving both the extra cost of shipping them all the way to the US and the inconvenience of carrying them around for the next two months. What we didn't know was that there are some strange, and potentially very expensive, customs fees in Thailand that may end up costing us more than the clothes themselves! So we'll see if these clothes actually end up making it home. Bummer! After five days in Hoi An, it was time to move on... our visa in Vietnam only lasts so long! Check out the beautiful picture I've included of the sunrise we saw on our bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the entertaining picture of Amit with a 10-day old beard. More to come VERY soon (in fact, Amit has already written the post!) on our time in HCMC/Saigon. LOTS of love, Dena & Amit

Amit with a 10 day beard, right before he reached his breaking point (note the killer farmer's tan) Standing in front of a beautiful dragon fountain at one of the Assembly Halls in Hoi An The Japanese Friendship bridge in Hoi An Amit standing next to the yearly flood markers in one of the ancient houses in Hoi An Incense coils hanging in one of the temples The Hoi An Annual Heritage Festival Performance The intense crowd of the flea market Making spring rolls at our cooking class Amit and me, enjoying the feast we cooked The beach in Hoi An Biking through a village known for weaving mats from dyed grass The sunrise on our bus ride from Hoi An to Saigon