On yer bikes…

An optional outing today, met at our hotel at a more respectable 9.00 a.m. a guide took four of us on pushbikes around the outskirts of Hoi An.  Couple of points of clarification needed here, in Vietnam ‘pushbike’ means cyclo, i.e. three wheeler bike that is a form of public transport, a bicycle is what we might call a bike or a pushbike.  It made for some entertaining and confusing discussions about what exactly we had signed up for.

 

To get to the outskirts of Hoi An you have to first negotiate the roads around the hotel.  In fact they were very quiet, and our guide was attentive, so it was only coming back I had to close my eyes as I cycled across junctions without a guide to clear a path!  Yesterday, we noticed that cyclo drivers without horns just vocalised ‘beep beep’ as they went along to encourage people to move out of their way, and what’s more, it worked!  We however had bicycle bells which gave a satisfying ‘ding ding’ to announce our coming.  We did not generally speaking have brakes, not in the generally understood sense of the word, more in the ‘it’s flexible’ Vietnamese stance on such things.  Vocalising ‘stop stop’ inexplicably didn’t cause the bike to brake either.  I don’t know why.

Within minutes we were off down a side street and in amongst quiet green rice fields.  Periodically our guide stopped and instructed ‘take photo’ and we did, and then moved on to the next photo opportunity.  It was a great way to see local sites and suburbs.  He took us into families gardens and identified the growing plants (peanuts, herbs), explained about the fishing and the water coconuts, and seemed genuinely pleased at our two phrases ‘hello’ and ‘Happy new year’ and taught us how to say thank you very much (cum ern new – sort of) so improving our repertoire.  I wouldn’t have believed what a difference it could make just to have these three sayings but it really did.  I don’t know if was Tet good cheer, or whether we were a novelty, but people were very friendly and happily both initiated and returned our greetings, appearing genuinely pleased at our enthusiastic, but undoubtedly very approximate Vietnamese utterings.

At our final stop, we explored a little way down the river bank, and met some locals playing with some sweet dogs who were happy to be photographed (the people not the dogs, the dogs didn’t give explicit consent), again I think it was because we tried our limited vietnamese phrases (all three) and it worked like a charm.

On to a small boat for a gentle jaunt back to Hoi An, we all had a go at steering – the boat was surprisingly sensitive, I got sacked though, for unknowingly taking us into water that was too shallow.  On the bank we disembarked, and were given custody of our bikes for the rest of the day, a mixed blessing in Hoi An, that even though it was quiet due to Tet, the narrow streets were not really bike friendly, even bell dinging didnt prevent the odd emergency stop, all good humoured though.  Back to hotel after another lovely excursion, all a bit sun burnt and dehydrated, we took to a local library cafe for vietnamese iced coffee – not much open near to us, and limited menus, but nice to sit and chill and watch the world go by.  Not a bad way to spend my last day aged 49 in this world I think!

Getting down with the locals… night out in Hoi An Thanh Thanh restaurant

Serendipity meant that we couldn’t get into Morning Glory – the much hyped must-do restaurant in Hoi An.  It was heaving, and even though in theory we could have waited for a table none of us really fancied the queuing element, or the being squashed in when we got there element. Instead we decided to go off-piste, and found ourselves traipsing the streets until we followed a sign that took us down a dark alley way to a small eating place.  Hoi An does feel really safe, but it was good to be in a group as I felt more confident exploring with others especially at night in the dark.

The place we stumbled on had a Vietnamese group already eating there, and some empty plastic tables and chairs.  A rather harassed looking woman beckoned us in, and we looked at the menu which unexpectedly was in both vietnamese and English – though due to Tet we understood that not everything was on offer.  We sat in a sot of courtyard, the family living area on one side of the square, with TV and motorbike in evidence, then the kitchen on another, and you could see into the washing up area.  There were two very small girls playing with a new toy (presumably a Tet gift) which looked like a sort of hard plastic minature football.  You put in a large key to wind it up, put it on the floor, and it played a tiny version of the theme tune for ‘Beverley Hill Cops’ I think, whilst lights flashed, not for very long, it being a wind-up mechanism, but long enough for the little girls to dance delightedly around to its tune.  If only we’d had them too at New Year’s Eve we could have had even more of a party!

   

The problem was, that the winding mechanism was tricky, and the littllest of the two girls kept pleading with her mother to wind it again for her, but her mum was trying to take orders, clean tables, do everything else.  There was an older boy (son) who was industriously making our passion and pineapple milkshakes.  From the time it took for them to appear this apparently involved growing, harvesting and peeling them, as well as crushing them into our shakes.  It was a scene of great activity.

I don’t really do small children on the whole, I don’t know how to interact with them properly, but these girls were just gorgeous.  One of our group enticed them over to show us their toy (but in an appropriate Mary Poppins rather than mean child-snatcher way).  Once their confidence grew they were all over her, and the games and dancing and interactions got more and more affectionate and elaborate.  It was joyful to watch!   With the permission of their mum, our group member gave each of the three children 1,000 VD (not a big sum, 100,000 VD is about $5) for Tet.  At this their mum visibly relaxed and was delighted to see her kids interact.

There was much photographing and the two girls posed proficiently,  delightedly they demanded that photos were taken again and again, and then earnestly examined the pictures on phones and mobiles before doing it all over again.  It was really great.  It kept us all entertained whilst we were waiting for the food to arrive and seemed a meaningful exchange.  At various points the girls took possession of the camera/ phones and did their own random shots, completely filling the memory on our companion’s mobile phone.  Hilarious.  Hilarious and joyous.

As we paid and left there was much mutual thanking and cries of Chuc Mung Nam Moi, and the proprietor thrust her restaurant’s card in our hands and urged us to return.  Unlikely, but if possible their is an intention to send photos by post at some future date (there is no email alas, through which to communicate).

Another grand night out through embracing the possibilities of the unknown!

Hoi An – tailor made

One of the things you can do in Hoi An is get a custom made suit.  Fortunately, one of our party wanted to do this, thereby enabling the rest of us to tag along as a spectator sport.  Unfortunately because everything was shut for Tet, our guide said flatly that there was nowhere open that he would recommend, not that all those open were bad as such, but they were unknown.

A traipse around in a rough convoy followed.   We dawdled a lot, easily distracted by inviting looking shops.  You are supposed to haggle, and we had various degrees of success in that department, not wanting to be embarrassingly hard (regretting fighting over a farthing when I get home)  or stupidly naive (here, have all my money, I’m both rich and ignorant).

The strategy adopted seemed to be to haggle as low as you could, be willing to walk away, and then having tried a few shops get to a base line of what seems reasonable.  Where a purchase was made, sometimes I negotiated to take a photo at that shop. The ubiquitous shrines fascinate me, as does the blurring of ‘work and life’ people live within their shops, all of life is happening, selling, eating watching children or television.  The only problem with the haggling, was that at one point, in order to provide change, one of the vendors resorted to opening the colourful red envelopes containing notes for children for Tet! That seemed low… didn’t hold out for all the change there, but did bet a photo op instead.

That was the principle, but in fact, we ended up stumbling on a really good tailor shop pretty much by accident.  There was a woman there who just inspired confidence.  She eyed up her potential client and very pragmatically assessed his proportions, announced her minimum price ‘because of your size’, and said in going lower she’d have to use cheaper fabric.

  

She was hilariously directive in terms of choosing fabric (blue cashmere) and silk lining.  When our suit jacket candidate suggested a bolder lining, she just shook her head and said ‘no.’ Scrutinised his skin colour and identified an alternative. Measuring him up, she shifted him into a suitably upright posture, and factually commented ‘for you, a loose fit’ – she managed to get a shirt included as well, but you know what, if I didn’t already look like a man in drag I’d have been sorely tempted to get a suit fitted myself.

Even though it is still a Tet holiday, her family worked overnight to make the outfit, the jacket was about $95 and the shirt maybe another $25 or so, but the final effect was pretty goddarn amazing.  Plus, as a bonus, it was great fun watching the whole process of negotiation and fitting.

Hello to Hoi An

‘Recently declared a World Heritage site, Hoi An is being beautifully restored and preserved. Known as Faifo to early western traders, it was one of South-East Asia’s major international ports during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Today, parts of Hoi An look exactly as they did more than a century ago and it retains the feel of centuries past, making it the sort of place that grows on you the more you explore it’

 

An early start and a long drive took us to Hoi An.  What a joyful place, colourful lanterns, bright buildings, and a characterful hotel.  The hotel even arranges our bath map into a shell shape.  What’s not to like.  We were all tiring a bit by now, and were glad to have a brief walk into town to find somewhere to eat.  This place is gorgeous, but once again very definitely touristy., but then again, we are tourists.

  

Also, due to Tet, all the classic shops, tailoring etc are firmly shut, as are most of the restaurants.  The few that have held out and are open are very much catering for the western traveler so nothing felt very authentic, more theme parkish.  Having said that, we had a fantastic lunch, and it amused me greatly that a note was attached to our menu apologising in advance for bad service due to Tet, and explaining that staff would be wearing their new Tet cloths instead of uniform (although disappointingly, the service was good and the staff were in uniform, just shows you can’t always get what you want!)

Oh, and update, for those of you who are following closely – this is what a power point looks like in Vietnam!  Now you know.

Going over the top to Hoi An – Oyster beds

The blurb: ‘Travelling by bus, head south through coastal rice paddies before traversing the spectacularly mountainous Hai Van Pass. After a brief visit to the beautiful China Beach (known officially as My Khe Beach), arrive at Hoi An’

Although a long day on the bus, we were rewarded with frequent stops and scenic views.  Inevitably the camera doesn’t do it justice.  One of the most interesting stops was to see the oyster beds – here seen from afar…

 

We got up close as well, and there was a woman by the roadside, painstakingly opening the oyster shells by hand, again bent double, how any of these women ever straighten up again I shall never know.

   

A little of the process was explained.  The sticks mark where the oysters are farmed, and small boats move among them to harvest them. Old scooter tyres are heaped up to provide an anchorage point for the oysters, and stilt huts scatter among the oyster beds presumably to provide a convenient anchorage point.  The shells are not discarded, but ground up to make limestone, nothing it seems is wasted.