The faces in the market

When we were on the Mekong we stopped at a local market where there were no other toursits and the people there were all so friendly and photogenic...

Hoi An is a dangerous place

But not for the reasons one might think. The vietnamese people here are very friendly, the streets are quiet, there are amazing restaurants and there are tailors on every street...hundreds of them. We met a travel guide who hooked us up with a tailor (I am not sure if we should thank him or curse him). For $230 debbie has gotten custom made for her (are you ready for this?), 2 dresses, 4 pairs of pants, a wool winter jacket, 3 blouses and a blazer. It is madness. You flip through magazines and find something you like, then you look at all the fabric in the shop and they measure you...the very next day you go for a fitting. With Deb they got it perfect the first time on almost everything. It is making our heads spin. WOW! We have to get out of this place.

We have found the most amazing restaurant here as well called Mango. Last night for dinner I have shrimp wrapped in beef. Oh my god it was amazing. I think it even beat the sea bass experience I had in Vancouver once a long time ago where I wanted to kiss the chef when I finished my meal. I should have kissed the chef here as he is quite cute. HA!

Our friend Lee who we met in Cambodia is coming to Vietnam to travel with us again. He gets here this afternoon...so at least we have someone to carry all our shopping :)

I am posting some shots, people we have met in Vietnam, our hotel here in Hoi An and anything else I can manage to upload.

Good Morning Vietnam

Woke up at 5am and went out on a boat trip on the Mekong. Watched the sun come up (with my eyes half open as I wasn't quite awake yet). We went to a local floating market where they all come with their boats filled with pineapple, papayas, coconut, jackfruit, loads of vegetables, etc. You just pull your boat up along side theirs and buy whatever you need. It was great. It is out of the way so we were the only tourists in the market...everyone was saying hello and waving and all the little kids were staring at us quite intently. It was so beautiful, I wasn't sure where to point the camera. Took loads of pictures.

Walked around another market where there were loads of wonderful older people...all smiling without their teeth and wanting their pictures taken. I obliged quite willingly and got some great shots.

Our boat driver and his wife bought fresh veggies at the market and they took us to the wife's mothers house and made us a great noodle lunch. Everything was so fresh and tasty. There were loads of little kids walking around and all of them were quite curious about us.

I got the wonderful experience of using a 'vietnamese toilet', which is basically 2 planks of wood over a small stream...there is about a 2 foot wall built in a square. You step inside, drop your pants, balance on the planks of wood and squat. Very natural...no? I had giant bullfrogs jumping up under me while I was tinkling and people walking by to work in the fields. Hello....you just have to laugh. It is a different world here.

We walked around his farm for a bit. He showed us the orange trees, the lettuce, lemon grass, rice fields, etc. And right in the middle of it all is a karaoke bar. He said "no problem...12 o'clock, drink some rice wine, go sing karaoke and then work again. Anytime, rice wine, no problem". Ha...I think we need to implement that work ethic back home.

Our first stop in Vietnam - Chau Doc

Ok...so we heard a lot of mixed reviews about Vietnam. Some people love it and some hate it saying that the people are not very nice. Our first experience in Chau Doc was on the LOVE it side of things.

We had an amazing first day here. We lucked out and got a great motorcycle driver, named Guy. He helped us get our SIM card for our phone, he walked me around the market telling me the local prices we should be paying for things not the tourist prices. He was great. We went to $2 million dollar mountain. It was about an 1.5hour drive out into the countryside...and what beautiful countryside. Everything is a lush green, all the women are riding bicycles with the great hats (not sure what they are called) on their heads. The school girls are dressed in long white dresses with the slits on the side and white pants and all look so classy. It was a beautiful ride.

The mountain itself is the location of many battles. First between the Vietnamese and the Americans and then again when the Khmer Rouge invaded. I have NO idea how the Americans thought they would capture this place. It is a mountain of boulders, filled with nooks and crannies where it would be so easy for the Vietnamese to hide. Tunnel and tunnel under the rocks. Amazing really. They said that the Vietnames to American odds were 3 to 20 and they held them off for years. You could see the bomb marks on the rocks, etc.

While going through a tunnel we came to a clear area where they used to have meetings and there was a group of vietnamese having a picnic. As soon as they saw us they were saying hello, I sat down and had rice wine with them (they love to drink rice wine and cheer), they offered me food and were so nice and with big smiles on their face...probably due in part to the amount of rice wine they drink. :)

That night Guy wanted to take us to the bars. Deb and I were tired and almost said no byt he was so excited and happy to have us out that we couldn't resist. He took us to this restaurant where 2 litres of beer was less than 50 cents and he took us into the kitchen and showed us the rat, bat and live snake that was on the menu. Needless to say we just drank beer here.

Then he got out his flute and was playing all these beautiful songs. It was great. We decided to get a cyclo and head back into town to eat (no rat for us pretty please) and we passed a wedding reception just on the side of the street. Tables set up, people eating and of course there was karaoke. The people saw us and cheered. Before you knew it we were at a table cheering with rice wine, they were pouring us beer, the guy with a microphone was over at our table getting us to tell our names and where we are from. We danced, ate and drank. Hilarious! It was a great night. Why does stuff like this never happen in Canada?

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