Hoi An and and The Dangers of Boredom

So I’m sitting at the train station in Danang and I’ve still got another two hours before I’m supposed to board. I came to Danang a little earlier than I needed to because I thought I would look around a little but honestly I really should have stayed in Hoi An until I had to. Danang is about as uninteresting place as I’ve ever been. Seeing as how it’s the third biggest city in Vietnam I really thought I would find something to occupy my time for at least a little while. Perhaps I’m just not seeing the exciting part of the city, but I looked around all the places Lonely Planet told me to and I honestly have not seen another foreigner in the vicinity. Not that that matters too much, but it makes it a lot easier when you can walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with another lone traveller so you don’t have to see the city alone. But still, there seems to be absolutely nothing to do in Danang. I went to a restaurant to get some dinner and craving a salad, I ordered I vegetarian Caesar. What greeted when me when my plate was certainly not a Caesar Salad. I can best describe it as cucumbers, tomato, and onion covered in mayonnaise. Seriously, how is that a Caesar salad? Then me, being who I am, had to put on a straight face and tell the waitress that I didn’t eat it because I was fuller than I anticipated and not because it tasted like feet.

 I will say though, that the people of Danang are much friendly than the people Hanoi. I‘ve been getting a lot of attention, but mostly smiles and waves so I haven’t minded as much as I did getting scowls and  stares in Hanoi. People also seem far more appreciative of the fact that I at least try to speak Vietnamese, even if I most likely butcher their language every time I open my mouth to speak it. The whole point of this story I suppose, is since I have nothing to do right now but wait for the train, I’ll write a little about what I did in Hoi An just to pass the time.

First off, I will say that Hoi An is a truly beautiful city and I kind of wish I had a few more days to spend there. It’s so much quieter than Hanoi, and the traffic is much less hectic (someone actually stopped for me when I was crossing the street! I was dumfounded). There are also areas of the city that are completely pedestrianized, meaning that there are not motorbikes or cars allowed. When I arrived in Hoi An around 1:00pm yesterday, I was so exhausted after nearly 20 hours of travel that I spent a few hours dozing at my hotel before leaving to explore the city. My hotel was amazing and more than worth the $20 I paid for it. Obviously, it was a night of luxury considering I will be in hostels for most of the rest of my trip, but after living in the squalor of the Thanh Xuan dorm for a few months I think I deserved the break. Anyway, my room had a giant king sized bed, a huge bathroom, and a balcony.

My room... of course I couldn't wait long enough to take a picture before jumping in it.

The bathroom, which was like bigger than the room. I even asked the hostess if I had to share it.

Trying and pretty much failing at getting in a picture from the balcony. After four attempts, I just cut my losses and accepted this was the best I would get.

Again, it’s not something I will be able to afford all the time, but it was a nice treat.

After getting a few hours of sleep, I headed into the city centre to check out some of the shops. The thing Hoi An is famous for is custom made clothing. There are literally hundreds of shops on every street reading to hand make everything from suits to hand bags. I would have loved to get myself a winter coat, but I already have too much stuff and trying to carry that around would be a hassle. So instead, I got myself a pair of custom made shoes to replace the ones I had stolen. They’re lightweight sort of deck shoes, and I got them done in the colors of the Republic of Newfoundland flag (white, pink, and green). I have to say, they look pretty badass. I’ll post a picture of them in my next blog once I actually make it to Nha Trang.

Anyway, after getting my shoes made I went out to the waterfront and had dinner at this cute little place that had wicked cheap beer and really good veggie rice. I spent another hour or so wandering the town before heading back to my hotel for a good night’s sleep. In morning I got up relatively early and took a swim in the pool. Then I walked around the area my hotel was in and had breakfast. After checking out of my hotel and heading into the city centre, I ran into two girls I had met on the bus from Hanoi. Both of them were pretty well travelled, so they had a lot of advice for me, which of course is always appreciated. We had lunch and a drink at a place called the Tam Tam Café which I have to say was a pretty awesome place. The staff were indifferent and inattentive, but the food and drink more than made up for it. After parting ways with them I barely had enough time to pick up my shoes and book it back to my hotel to catch my bus to train station in Danang.

And so here I am, sitting at a random café with like 500 Vietnamese people screaming around me. I know I have a loud voice, but there is no way I can compete with these people… it’s just yelling all the time. It doesn’t help that I have a ridiculous splitting headache and an annoyingly stuffed up nose so I’m especially irritable right now. Oh well, it could be a lot worse I guess.

On that note, thus ends blog number two for the day. I guess that helps to make up for the fact that I only posted one in about a month. Although, since I am on the move now and I want to write about every place I visit I’ll certainly be updating a lot more.

Until next time, you never know if the person next to you has a headache… so please don’t scream.

Sarah