it’s so damn hot…milk was a bad choice
Passing the time waiting to catch the overnight bus to Nha Trang.
Hoi An was excellent. Great, cheap food and we have now immersed ourselves in street food- the Cau Lau from the vendor at the riverside was by far the best we had and today we went for a 3 course lunch, coffee, beer and large bottle of water for the princely sum of 3 pounds and 43 pence. The food was goooood, Hoi An speciality ”White Rose”- shrimp wrapped in rice paper with dipping sauce, the best wontons I ever did have- topped with shrimp, pineapple and veg in a light sweet and sour sauce, spring rolls, cau lau and sizzling eggplant that had been baked in a clay pot with tomato, onion and spices (pictures will come eventually, technology keeps letting me down!). We waddled out of the Friendship cafe which overlooked the river, into the heat so happy and at peace. The town itself is just beautiful, centuries old and has not been modernised, left to grow old gracefully and we will be sad to leave. Last night was the Hoi An legendary festival- the full moon. The town suddenly became populated and all the high school girls came by the river with their boyfriends to go out on boats and put lanterns on the river to bring them good luck. There were games and dragons and drums and small kids parading everywhere, the people so lively and clearly having a ball. The lightning really added to the night too.
Hoi An lights
D had a suit and shoes made, we are in the tailoring capital of Vietnam after all, be rude not to, and the end result was sharp and mod. I had a dress and sandals made, Catholic guilt for the extravagance (I hate you Primark) but I love it and can’t wait to flounce about the next beach town. The girls in the shop were incredibly sweet, although constantly trying to get D to buy more shirts. When they pulled out a tie rack and asked him to pick one, desperation overtook him as he exclaimed “But I’ve already got loads of ties back home!” (a bare faced lie), “No, no, it’s our gift to you. Pick one.” Such a lovely gesture.
The anticipation for the night bus is minimal, as our overnight journey from Ha Noi to Hue wasn’t all that bad, quite fun actually. There was plenty of leg room and the beds were reasonably comfortable. The only annoyance was the extremely loud, badly dubbed (one Vietnamese woman playing each character with no tone or emotion), badly acted Chinese gangster film. At one point there was a fight scene reminiscent of Anchorman when Luke Wilson got his arm chopped off. Terrible as the film was, and the fact that we couldn’t understand what was going on it was pretty amusing. Some time after the film ended and I no longer had monotone Vietnamese blaring into my ears I went to sleep. It was a decent one too as I didn’t wake up to hear an Irish girl puking up the Valium she’d taken to help her rest. I did, however, wake up to what sounded like the bus driver beating the shit out of the side of the bus with a wrench. Turns out the battery had fallen out and the driver had to do an emergency stop (well executed as said the only guy who’d been awake and had the agony of being the only person to know we were about to die) and pulled in at some sort of service station. The driver banged on a shack, waking the mechanic who came out in his boxer shorts, scratched his head, and immediately set to work welding the battery back together. Or something. I only woke up when the driver set off again at warp speed and I slid right down to the bottom of my bed. Got to see a few stars too- the night sky might just be my favourite place after the Icefields parkway. We met some great people on that journey, actually we’ve been so lucky the whole time we’ve been here. Met some really cool, fun people. And one German oddball who introduced himself as “Hillbilly”, spoke of “unfinished personal business” and kept talking about getting a whole new identity. Not a fake student card to get discounts etc, but a whole new name/age/occupation. Might go and check the Interpol website…
