Hoi An- Vietnamese Cuisine, Clothing and Encounters
The bus ride from Hue to Hoi An featured impressive mountain, countryside and seaside views. Hoi An is a calm and scenic port town near the center of Vietnam known for fine cuisine and trade of fabrics, particularly silk. The prices are so low that you are likely to buy things that you don't need or even want, i.e. custom-made cowboy boots and silk dragon print boxer shorts.
Our wandering fivesome (down one from Hue) enjoyed a cooking course, motorcycling to the beach and Marble Mountain and some bargain shopping. I had three items made, blue cargo pants that zip into shorts, a nice standard business suit with subtle pin stripes and a pair of silk dragon-print boxer shorts. Eric had boots made, Pascal had a Vietnamese hat made with his name embroidered on it and the ladies did their thing.
One of the highlights of our stay in Hoi An was taking a cooking course where we learned to make local specialties such as spring rolls, beef and pork lemongrass skewers and grilled fish wrapped in a banana leaf. Another highlight was our very authentic feeling "ancient family guesthouse", as it was advertised.
Our attempts to make Vietnamese friends in Hoi An were fruitless. We had an invitation to a birthday party, which turned out to be a questionable money-making scheme and a Vietnamese acquaintance joined us for a day motorbiking up the coast, climbing, beaching and playing volleyball and then asked us for a tip after we had invited him to join us out of courtesy. Needless to say miscommunication has become an everyday reality of life on the road.
