A chance conversation with another guest & with Khoa, the owner of the place I’m staying at revealed that at least one Vietnamese family doesn’t think much of the sleeper train either, and that above a certain height the sleeper bus isn’t that comfortable. I only made it through the recliner bus, which I suspect is the same thing as the sleeper bus , by putting my bag under my knees to change the angles just enough to fit.
The other guest had arrived by overnight bus, I’d arrived by overnight train, and we both looked awful from Khoa’s description.
Felt better today, so I got an earlier start on the day, and did some more exploring of Hoi An.
It took a while to figure out that you’re supposed to buy tickets to visit the Ancient City, or at least to see the various special significant bits. I did see various booths selling tickets, but it wasn’t particularly clear to me what they were for, and it certainly didn’t seem to be related to whether you should walk down the street or not.
Plus, with the number of scams that occur, I wasn’t sure how legit they were, and assumed Probably Not Very. Once I did figure out that they were legit, do you think I could find an open one?
I’d seen what looked like a somewhat racist caricature on postcards in a number of stores & cities, and thought “Nope”. Well drawn, but reminiscent of those bits of Asterix or Tintin comics that really haven’t aged well.
Turns out it’s the actual branding of a coffee company. I have no idea if that makes it better or not
When chatting with one of the UK friends, I mentioned the ridiculous number of tailors in Hoi An, and realised that from where I was sitting in a tiny cafe on a narrow alley, I was still directly opposite a tailor.
I found an Irish Pub. In Hoi An. Named The Shamrock. Playing Christmas music.
Comments
2 responses to “Last Day In Hoi An, Last Day In Vietnam”
I knew someone who would order tailored shirts from overseas – I wonder if it was Hoi An? And I have noticed some clothing says made in Vietnam and it’s always better than the made from china stuff.
I do mark a box to get your comments to my comments but thanks for hitting me up on messenger too. You are one thoughtful VIG!
From what I could see, some places were “select fabric, try things on” shops, but there were others which had a bunch of women with sewing machines. Maybe the work gets sent out from one to the other.
Oh, and an unexpected smell from Hoi An was incense – sticks of the stuff burning all over the place