Monday, October 21
Goodbye to Hanoi, early flight to Danang, former site of major US military base, no sign of it now. Taxi to Hoi An.
Hoi An is a sweet town in the middle part of Vietnam. A World Heritage site, there are no tall buildings and the houses all fit into the scene of a small historic town. Traffic is easy after the craziness of Hanoi. Our hotel is lovely, a short way from the old city. We have a pool in the courtyard and our rooms have balconies from which we can see each other across the way. The staff is unusually solicitous and there are many of them, mostly women in the two layer typical Vietnamese dresses. Arriving in my room, I found towels on the bed shaped into birds, with fresh flowers and flower petals adorning everything, including a rose petal in the toilet.
Our first adventure after arrival was a visit to a tailor shop where clothing is made from scratch. I chose fabric and was measured for a blouse, Netsy for a tunic and pants, Larry chose fabric for a shirt to be copied.
Larry stayed back and battled a cold as Netsy and I grabbed hotel bikes and explored Old City streets lined with shops selling clothing, handicrafts, fine art, and restaurants, cafes, produce markets, lots more. We were offered massages, pedicures, clothes, boat rides, bananas and more fruit, as we passed on our bikes. The roads here are flat so there's no need for gears, no hills. The pace is slow, so when the road does get crowded, there's plenty of time to veer off and no one seems to crash.
We ended the day with dinner in the hotel courtyard, four local dishes we never heard of before, wonderful food, the names of which I mean to look up.
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