Ancient City

We managed to get several hours of sleep on the train last night. Besides having an inconsiderate roomate, we the ride was enjoyable. The train went north from Nha Trang to Da Nang. Our goal for today was to make it from Da Nang to Hoi An (about 30km away) and to find a good cheap hotel. Our Rough Guide Vietnam book suggested that we should avoid the local bus from Da Nang to Hoi An at all costs. It instead recommended that we find a taxi or honda-om. The best price we could find for a taxi was $8, but it required that we wait around for 15min. or so while the friend of the salesman, who owned the car showed up. While we were waiting, we met a guy named Quang, who as it turns out takes people on motorcycle tours of Vietnam. We got to know him a bit, and he showed us some pictures of his clients, and gave us a book of references to read. When our taxi didn't show up, we decided to hire Quang, and his friend Nom for a few hours to see the sights between Da Nang and Nha Trang. Here are our new friends, trying to attach our backpack to one of the motorcycles.

Don't worry moms, I (Jason) requested that we be provided with helmets. We drove a mile or so to Quang's house, where we met his wife (who served us some tea) and family. We also picked up a couple of helmets. After stopping at a bakery to get some bread, we headed off for China Beach, which is apparently where American G.I.s would go to relax during the war. Quang said it was a famous place, but we are not familiar with why that is.

Then we were off to the marble mountains, which according to our guidebook, are Vietnam's most southerly limestone outcrops. The largest of the mountains has steps leading to the top, and paths leading to several temples. Here is the view:

There is a large cavern near the top of the mountain. We entered it to find it very smokey and crowded with people holding incense. We weren't sure what the significance of the place was, but we were able to find out that people were trying to catch the water dripping from above. Success in this endeavor brings good luck for the new year. I wonder what they had to do to get good luck in catching the water droplets? This is the tallest of the temples on the mountain:

Unfortunately the town at the base of the mountain was littered with shops selling various marble pieces, from furniture to sculptures to fountains to trinkets. We thought some of the stuff was nice, but not really worth carrying around. I left the shops to find Quang and Nom. Apparently when I left, Larissa was bombarded with buying pressure. She walked up to me, surrounded by several other women, asking for $12. She was half proud, because she had bargained them down from $25, but half embarassed because she committed to buy something. Anyway, it is a pretty little marble box. It is red of course, and has a sketch of Hoi An carved into the lid. I really have no idea what it could be used for, besides maybe a candy dish. Larissa seems to think that what it is used for is irrelevant, as long as it looks pretty.

We then headed off to complete the final leg of our journey to Hoi An. When we arrived, Quang showed us to a nice hotel. I tried to act unimpressed as we were shown a couple of sample rooms. Larissa smiled, and let out a bit of a giggle. I knew she liked the place. We booked a room, $10/night. It is a clean room, complete with a private bath, satellite tv, a shared balcony, and airconditioning.

Quang then showed us to his sister-in-law's tailoring shop. Hoi An is well known for it's abundance of silk tailoring shops. Around here, you can pretty much pick whatever you want out of a fashion magazine or what have you, and they will take your measurements, help you pick out fabric, and have your custome made items ready the next day. A full cashmere suit goes for around$50, while a dress shirt about $7, and a winter coat about $30. Larissa is in love with this "opportunity." Thus, she will tell you a bit more about it, and the other things that make her love this place.

Okay, so this is me (Larissa). WOW. This place is amazing! Every other store is a tailor or laquerware store. I thought THAT was cool but then I walked into a shoe store. I noticed all the shoes looked pretty grimy, dusty and worn. I thought, oh thats too bad, I want shoes but I guess they suck here. Then one of the store people said "you like? I will make it in your size!" So, these grimy shoes are just sample shoes and you pick out what you want and they make it for you! You can even change the color of the shoe if you want. Wow. I love shoes. So I will have to have of those made while we are here too.

The architechture here is pretty cool too. Hoi An is called an ancient city because most of the buildings are ancient, not like in ruins but made of nice wood with carvings and the like. There is a really cool covered bridge too that is very stylized.

There are so many colors here. Everything is so bright and beautiful. Case in point, here is a picture of a woman making chinese lanterns.

Jason didn't want me to put it in because it is blurry but I don't care, I really like it. I think I took a really good picture. Anyway, there are lots of laquerware stores around here and Jason and I have been window shopping trying to decide what we want. Jason is getting sick of shopping to my dismay (even though we haven't really bought anything yet) but I think he will get excited about the backpacks. There are Northface backpacks here for 10-15 dollars depending on the size. That is even before we started bargaining. We thought they might be fakes but upon further perusal, we think they are real. So, I think Jason might be spending time in backpack stores while I am being fitted for beautiful clothes.

There is a lot more to see here than just clothes and such. We are planning to get around to that tomorrow. We will let you know about that kind of stuff as soon as we can.