I’m in the shopping capital of Vietnam. The bed bugs bites start to fade and so is my grouchiness. I still prefer to stay in my hotel room than discover any more of the city. I have a craving to listen or read in German, but all my e-books are back in Taiwan and all I have is my Gilmore Girls series. The reasons why I feel better in a safe hotel room are the tailor shop salespeople. The dresses are really tempting but I really don’t feel like dragging them along through half of Asia. Plus my backpack is already barely zipping up. After all I can shop in Singapore or Manila!
So, yesterday after being tormented on the bus for the whole night, with the bus driver honking and turning on the lights whenever he felt like it and the Chinese men who must have really liked his mobile phone ring and talking really loud after answering the call after 3 min or so. Exhausted yet happy to finally reach the destination we took a shower and left to discover the city of Hoi An. Hardly have we left the hotel, were there tons of tailors hassling us to order something “hello miss, buy somesin’ “. But we couldn’t think clearly before breakfast so after taking a long time to browse through thick catalogues we proceeded without leaving any money behind. Hoi An is a really busy place. Lots of bikes and motorbikes crowding the narrow streets. There are also A LOT of white people – mostly French or Dutch but I also heard some Polish. The people are very friendly, but I learned to keep my guard and not be too friendly in case they would guilt trip me into buying somesin’. Pity, as it really narrows my opportunities to actually experience the local culture and to make friends.
After we filled our stomachs, we rented bikes and cruised around the islands the whole day. There is only one bridge to each (or at least that many have I found) and the islands aren’t big. We managed to find a really relaxing café at the end of one, ordered coffee (tee we got free of charge) and just stayed in hammocks for an hour or so. Amazing – no tourists, bamboo trees and twitting birds. At the second island after leaving the main road and biking into jungle (aiming for the tip of the islands) we reached some really funky people. One of the women just jumped on my trunk and wanted to ride with me, which was more difficult than I thought. Asians are masters at keeping balance on bikes with at least 4 people on the vehicle, but I’m definitely can’t compete. My friend nearly kidnapped a child too. An 8 or so year old boy wanted to go with us, so she just told him to climb up the trunk and drove away. Good that it was a one-way road and she had to return him. His family was cool though. The grandfather took us on a ride with a … it’s hard to call it a boat – more like a basket made of bamboo… Hilarious! We tried to paddle but we couldn’t make the thing go straight! So we just turner in circles like a dog chasing its own tail. When the man took the paddle we made it a few meters down the river till we reached a big tourist boat. People inside found the sight of us funny too and started taking tons of pictures (no, they were neither Koreans nor Japanese – French I presume). So we ended up as a tourist attraction too! I should have thought about it at that time, but I should have charged for those “one picture, one dolla’!”. Too bad.
That family also made us take pictures with them, and with their little baby. One could easily guess how amazing hand I have with the little people when it started crying and screaming its face off the moment it got into my hands. Little monster.
In the evening the whole city just died. At around 22:00 we both felt sudden urge to eat French fries (or “French fried”) so we got on bikes and headed for the center. But surprise! The city looked as if it was 3am! Nobody, absolutely nobody on the streets, the restaurants already closed or closing down. We found only one that got us our treat. The joy was only spoilt a little by the French girl sitting next to our table and constantly talking. Her companions only nodded. And the things she was saying! Omg… apparently she has Polish roots and was giving her thoughts and experiences from her stay in my country… We just wished for her to shut up, but we were polite enough not to disturb and to focus on our conversation with the restaurant owner – cool lady btw.
On the whole, a very enjoyable day despite the hassle with clothes, boats and tourists. I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to it. I do miss the cosmetic chain stores (Watsons where are you?) or even McDonalds! I know… It’s a sin to say that, but imagine living 6 months strictly on Asian food.
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