Hue Day 4 and Hoi An

Tuesday 9th

Got a cyclo to take us over the river, first we went past the market and then over to the entrance of the citadel. Just like our last ride the driver asked how much i weigh, they do pretty well considering they're pushing over 250kgs combined.

The citadel is nice from the outside but once inside there isn't too much there. As a result of the Vietnam War the main palace in the citadel was completely destroyed, for the most part the surrounding buildings are mostly in tact. You can see bullet holes in a fair few places, including a giant metal urn. The emperors of old are still honoured here, like in there respective tombs.

We walked over to the market, for once actually got hassled by shopkeepers. Went upstairs and found a place (among many) selling Polo shirts, after all the trying on and tlaking they wanted 1.2million VND ( $60) for two! Just wandering past a store downstairs i was offered one for 80 000VND. These people had absolutely no idea, they're trying to sell us bullshit about they're shirts being of a higher quality. How much you want? I say 200 000VND ($10), which is more than fair and a tad belong or at par with the market rate. They kept lowering they're price, we kept walking, they're final price was 200 000VND each but no way was i going to pay that. It's quite disgusting that they can go from 1.2 million to 400 000 yet still try to rip me off. We also went through the meat market, which didn't smell that bad to be honest.

Time had gotten on, it was nmow 3pm and we hadn't had lunch. Kay didn't want to eat at the market eateries and they were no places on the street outside for some reason so we went to good old KFC which was close by. For both our meals it cost ~130 000VND ($6.50), much different to home. For one the chips were in fact french fries like Maccas and the large chips was like a medium at Maccas. The chicken piece was meatier than home and the zinger buger not as spicy. They also had tomato sauce and chilli sauce dispensers. Next door was a genuine supermarket and they were a fair few locals in there shopping. A sign of things to come i guess. Most notably was that the prices for things we had bought previously were cheaper. A 1.5L water was only 7500VND instead of 12000VND. I got my first packet of lollies since leaving home and Kay bought various sweets (not my sort). We went to Stop and Go Cafe (LP guide recommended) for dinner, i had tacos and Kay had a pasta. Nothing special.

Wednesday 10th

We got to sleep in today as check out was 12pm and our bus was due to leave at 1:45pm for Hoi An. It was raining the heaviest by far today. Arrived in Hoi An around 5pm, still raining but not as hard. We dragged all our luggage to our hotel of choice to find they only had one room left and it was more than we wanted to spend. So we headed back to the travel agency as we passe numurous hotels along the way. Went into one, good room, good price so we choose this one (Nhi Trung). Went out for dinner at a LP recommended place called Bobo's Cafe and had some of the Hoi An specialities. Cao Lau - a noodle dish with pork and herbs, the noodles weren't fried, Fried wontons with seafood and Kay had a wonton soup. The cao lau was very different to other noodle dishes but nice, the fried wontons were vey nice (the seafood and veges were on top of them) and the soup was alright.

Thursday 11th

Lazy day today. Slept in, had lunch and went for a walk around town. Heaps of tailors and shoe shops around. In the afternoon i rented a motorbike for two hours, Kay refused to get on with me until i was competent. It was a manual bike but it didn't have a clutch for some reason. The gear changing was like a normal bike. You could be in 4th gear doing 20kmph comfortably. Just like when i dorve for the fiorst few times, going along at a long speed was quite scary and felt so fast, i would'nt have gone more than 50kmph, even on the major roads. Within 20 minutes i was back at the hotel to pick Kay up. Overall a very good experience, although i won't do it again til we get to a smll town like this. The intersections was cars, trucks and bikes coming from all directions was daunting.

Before dinner Kay found a tailor she liked and after two hours being fitted and all that jazz we finally got to have dinner at 8pm. Kay ordered three dresses which she had picked out from ones she liked, not from the shop but from celebrities and the fashion show she worked at. Dresses would be ready for first fitting the next day. Cost was $100 all up. We were quoted $165 at a place packed full of Westerners.

Friday 12th
Today was totally devoted to shopping and the touristy sites within Hoi An. We went to a shoe shop and had a pair each ordered. Kay had a big pair of suede heels and i got a design off the internet to be made (Gucci copy) in full real leather (proven to us). Cost was origianlly $167 together but we got it down to $140, so $70 each. I was happy with this but Kay wasn't, she only wanted to pay in the 30-40 range. We had been quoted $30 for mine and $25 for hers at another store. Kay went to that store and had a pair made aswell for $25. I found more Polo shirts and got two, for $6 each.

We bought the required ticket to see the particular sights in town including the Japanese bridge old houuse of Phung Hung, Cam Pho communal house and Phuc Kien assembly hall. 90 000VND each for the ticket was a bit pricy all things considered.

Went to a place called Retreat Cafe for dinner, which was full of Westerners. Reason being was the very very cheap alcohol. We had several cocktails with dinner. I had a beef burger and Kay had a pizza, which was pretty good. At this stage we are really craving Western food, Vietnamese food gets very repetitive. Although we had vowed no more Western food til Cambodia.

Saturday 11h

Up early at 6:30am to get ready for our tour to My Son, the former holyland of the Cham Empire. We had Bun Bo for breakfast, whilst on the bus to My Son i felt quite ill. I thought i was going to throw up. By the time we got to My Son and started the tour i flet better, albeit not 100%.
My Son was another victim to American bombings so alot of it is in ruins or not as it should be, considring it's over 1000 years old. Although the site was not that big, if it had been left unscaved by the Americans and the French who discovered it and removed the heads of all the statues and carvings (some reside in the Louve currently) then it could've been the Angkor Wat of Vietnam (in a sense).

We got back to Hoi An at 1:30pm, had lunch at an Indian restaurant across the street from our shoe store. It was pretty good.  Kay's shoes were ready but needed tightening, mine were not. We were to return at 8pm. I had a shave done by cut throat razor, it took a few times because they didn't understand how i wanted my sideburns and chin. They also shaved my forehead (i didn't think i had heair there). Overall it turned out well, although not the way i usually had my sideburns and chin. We headed over to Kay tailor and then to their workshop for fittings again. The dresses weren't quite right so after two hours we were good to go. Kay was happy but the dresses weren't quite the way she hoped. One of the three was spot on though.

We had dinner at Bobo's again and went to the cheap shoe place to look at Kay's shoes. She was not happy. One of the shoes had effectively a lump on the side, think of a bunyen. The girl in the store was not helpful at all saying she couldn't fix it, wouldn't refund Kay's money and would still require the extra 100 000VND for Kay to take the shoes. Fianally she said she would do what she could and we were to return tomorrow. Straight over to the other shoe shop where they were done. My shoes looked great. Hard to explain in writing but they were meant to have two studs on the side, instead it was two holes with metal around them. There was no way i could wear them in the rain without swimming in my shoes. One of Kay's straps were a little loose too. We left for our hotel and within an hour they brought them to us all done.

Amongst all of the tooing and frooing from shoe shops we went to the busy tailor for me. I got a pair of dress/suit pants, a shirt and two ties. All up $72. I was looking at the pants purely on colour, it just so happened that i liked the $45 cashmere pants the best (the cheapest aailable was $25), i like it way too much so that's what i got. Would be ready for fitting 10am Sunday.

Sunday 12th

Went to my tailor, pants and shirt look great. Nothing needed to be changed, they just had to do the buttons and a few final touches. Looked great with my shoes as well. This tailor was called Kimmy Custom Tailor.Went to the cheap shoe place, they ahd fixed the shoes, all problems solved. Checked out of hotel. Now just to wait until 7pm for our 12 hour bus to Nha Trang.