Hoi An

This is our second day in Hoi An- the place where you can have you made any piece of garment in a matter of day, starting from bikinis to winter coats. Every other shop here is a tailor's... Interesting enough you can get anything made here, but you have hard time finding pair of decent towels, though it has a lot of people going to beach here.

Well we got to Da Nang ( about 30 km from Hoi An) on an express train from Hanoi, have to admit that it's far nicer than many trains I've taken in Uzbekistan and on post-Soviet territory in general. It did sound kind of weird that we had 6 people placed in our compartment, and two kids, so it was interesting... We took the night train to Da Nang, so got to sleep most of the time, but the morning started with "casual" noodle breakfast, served around 7:00 am ( Ari was " really happy" about this....), and then later they served really interesting  brunch: rice, some cooked green leaves, and some pork served again with something green ( yum...).  Seemed like we were the only ones to feel a bit uncomfortable about this meal, other people seemed to enjoy it...

We arrived to Da Nang around 1:00 pm, and had a hotel car meeting us at the station to get us to Hoi An. Hoi An turned out to be very small old town, again with a lot ( and I mean a LOT) of tailors... Interesting that they can litterally duplicate anything you point at ( well except for quality of course...) for from $10 to $60.

One thing about Hoi An that Ari and I keep noticing, that evertime we meet somebody, starting from hotel personnel to every single local, they try to sell us something. We met one lady the other day and right after she approached us she asked me where I was from, I said: "Uzbekistan", she really didn't seem to care what country I would name, she immediately said: "My mother is from there", not even attempting to repeat the name of the country, and guess what she wanted??? "Will you visit my shop now?"....

We went to the beach today, was very nice, water seems to be perfect tempurature, and not so many people ( most of the guests I would suppose are all sitting at tailors all day long). We had great lunch, with lots of shrimp for Ari and springrolls for me. I took the first motobike ride in my life to the beach and back. Motobikes just scared me from the moment I saw them in Hanoi ( remember the CRAZY traffic, it's all about those motobikes), but it turned out to be not that bad..

Well speaking of tailors, Ari and I as many other tourists here, had plans on getting some clothing made here. In fact I got a very nice silk dress made here, and both Ari and I really liked it. Ari had his khaki pants made today, too. We also ordered some more stuff, but let's wait till we get it...

We have some nice pics to share, and will add them tomorrow...

Comments

[Christina]

Your photos are fabulous-- I almost feel like I'm there! I'd tell you to have a great time, but I think you are already doing that. Take care and keep sending updates!

[Brian Block]

Oh Aristan,

Hanoi sounds cool. My friends fiancee is interning with UNDP there. It would have been great if you could have met her. Shoot! I've gotta keep more apprised of your travels.

I'm off to Astana (the Venice of Central Asia) and then Moscow at the end of September. It should be cool.

I've got to think of a nickname for Lena (or you do). Aristan is great. How about: Lenastan, Lenushi, Lenachi, alright that is as far as I can go.

Let me know when you plan to be back in Tashkent and how long you plan to be there.

[Ari]

Good to hear from both of you. We have lots more pictures, but it's very time consuming to re-size and then upload them, so we'll be posting as many as we can without spending too much time in internet cafes.

Lena and I will be back in Tashkent on Sept. 14 and then leaving for the States on Sept. 24.

Let me know what nickname you think of for Lena. Lenochka doesn't work?