Hoi An. A department store disguised as a city.

By the way, as I write this, I notice these computers are using Windows 98 (well, the one next to me is..). I love it.

So leaving Da Nang today, we took the public yellow bus to Hoi An... Not only is it a bus, but it's also a rocketship/off road vehicle, delivery service, and tourist trap. They ushered us to the back of the bus, and all of the Vietnamese had to go and sit in the front section. Two guys were stationed at the back door, throwing people off when it was their stop, picking up packages that are to be delivered further down the road, and getting out and heaving people onto the bus so that it stops for as little time as humanly possible. When people were getting on or off the bus, one of the guys would push a button to signal the driver as soon as the passenger was on the first step, and most times the helpers had to run to catch up to the bus as it was hauling away from the "stop." Certainly a crazy experience, and I'm sure we got overcharged, but I'll pay 3 bucks to go on that bus again.

Hoi An is an old French Colony, and it shows. All of the buildings are in a French colonial style, with fun colors, beautiful design work, and this feeling like you should be holding a frilly laced parisol. Sadly, most of these buildings are filled with tailors/shoe cobblers/art galleries/commercial stores rather than people. What comes from this is that there are more tourists per square inch here than anywhere else we've seen yet (I'm sure Ha Long Bay will change that. Also, this was the place where part of Michael Caine's The Quiet American movie was filmed). I wander down the streets, and all of these stores are filled with people shopping and buying, all menus and signs are in English, and what Vietnamese authenticity there is is almost gone (along with the motorbikes, and that's not a bad thing...). But, what are you going to do..

The amount of pushy salespeople is higher than any other place I've seen so far, and everyone talks to everyone else, so it's all connected. Shops are made or destroyed by word of mouth, and the way to find good places is to talk to other travelers, and people that don't feel like ripping you off. The hotel recommends one tailor, and when I went to a different one, I was questioned on my return.

"Where did you go for the suit?"
"Um, the place you showed me. (takes out business card)"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You are really sure???"

It's ridiculously annoying. Everyone wants you to buy something, and even when you buy things, they want you to buy more. I intended to buy a suit. I now own a cashmere suit, 4 egyptian cotton shirts, a pair of slacks, a tie, 2 pairs of leather shoes, and a belt.

Don't get me wrong, the quality on all this stuff is top notch, and the prices I'm paying are way lower than normal tailored clothes. Everything is handmade, hand-measured, hand-adjusted... This stuff is made just for me, and supposedly it lasts. (I'm done growing, right?)

You guys know me, this really isn't me. Maybe if I was travelling with someone who wasn't such a shopper, things would be different, but I was looking in the mirror, and I really liked the way these clothes looked. Maybe I'll find reasons to wear these things now...

By the way, now that I see these things that fit me, I'm really freaking skinny. It's scary. I'm eating as much as I can, but it's not working. I have to start running again or something..

After spending more than I wanted to on clothes (and feeling a bit metrosexual... It does take a man to wear a pink shirt...), I went back to my comfort zone, local cuisine. We had a 5 course lunch because this nice lady told us in the restaurant in great English that these were all Hoi An specialties. Shrimp/crab dumpings (White Rose - amazing), fried wontons with a tomato chutney on top and pork in the middle (with fish sauce - unbelievable), a local noodle dish with pork and crispy wontons (less exciting), and beautiful flaky fried spring rolls. Fresh blended Pineapple/Mango juice. A stunning meal for 5 bucks.

This is one thing I'm loving about Vietnam. The food is amazingly cheap (It can be expensive, don't get me wrong, I payed 20 bucks for the fish that the chef showed me in Da Nang), and for the most part, very good. Nothing has been bad, and if something was just alright, chances are the meal cost less than a big mac from McDonalds... We are eating alot of street food, and going to less things you would define as "restaurants," but no matter where it is, it's good.

I wandered around a bit too, as I'm wont to do, and went to the less touristy part of town.. tons of kids waving hi to me as I passed, lots of smiles from people, and less "come in and buy please!" from the people sitting on storefronts. I stopped for a bit to eat some odd street food that a group was sitting around, got my picture taken, got made fun of in Vietnamese, the usual. This language is so much harder than Japanese to even try and pronounce. The way you emphasize any word changes its meaning, and the intonations are outside the range of my western tongue. Thus, there is a lot more frustration with interactions, and a lot less chances for me to figure out what's going on.

(On a food side note, I did have some random noodle dish at a night market in Da Nang yesterday, same kinda thing. Sit down, get offered soup, give it a try, amaze all of the locals that I'm even trying it. Probably got overcharged too..)

Because of the lack of communication, there is a real sense of "Locals over Tourists." I'm sure that everything that a tourists attempts to purchase is at least twice the actual cost, and while most people don't mind paying 2 dollars for a bowl of soup that costs 1, especially when it would cost 5-7 back home, the feeling is not a good one. The people here are nice, and helpful, but only to the extent of wanting some money. I think that is the main difference between a developing nation such as Vietnam and a modern nation like Japan. Well, that, and the ingrained sense of pride/formality that Japan has. The whole Asian concept of "saving face" isn't present at all here (at least on the streets/hotels). Giant groups of people are the norm, pushing each other at every opportunity to get ahead (getting on the plane from Saigon to Da Nang was insane, and nobody will let you off in front of them, you have to push.. just like the roads), and everything is done for the sake of making some money.

Megan has noted that we're not sure how well off/poor the people are here. Everyone seems like they have all that they need, but there are no signs of luxuries, such as Air conditioning/gadgets (aside from the everpresent cell phone)/etc..

(As I'm writing this, the desk man has just left to get some Pho. He asked me to watch the Hotel for him. Muahahaha.)

I'm sure that access to the nicer places would be very hard for travellers to get to, especially in a communist country. But even the more destitute places seem to be out of reach, or at least it's hard to tell who is in a bad way. There are no status symbols like clothes/cars (to an extent)/jewelry/etc... It may come from the fact that Vietnam has more industry and factory type work than intellectual/business type work. It's a stark contrast to a place like NYC, or even suburban Maryland, where cars/clothes are judged, and you don't see many people working in the fields or construction projects (seriously, beltway construction is nothing...).

The idea of the Market really interests me, as well as the abundant street culture. Everything is done on the street, from buying/selling/eating/laundry/construction (sidewalks are piled with rubble/materials all over the place), and the contrast really gets me.

Oh well, another post for random thinking, I guess...