We've been in Hoi An for the past couple of days and it's bloody freakin' hot here. It must be hotter than Hell (maybe I'll find out one day how hot hell really is!). I will never EVER complain about heat again after melting this afternoon. It was just over 40c today and I thought I was going to slit my own throat, delirious from the heat. I know ladies like to say they have a "glow" when they perspire but holy shit there was no glow here! I've been sweating like a mofo.... no "glow" it's more like a waterfall of nasty sweat! It's horrible. No wonder there aren't really any obese people in Vietnam... it's too hot to eat and all you drink is water all day. I think I must have gone through 5 litres of water today and I probably sweat it all out! Well the good thing about this is that I think I've lost some weight! Well maybe it's just water weight but I'll take it!
Hoi An is the garment district of Vietnam. Many of the labour here are quite skilled in tailoring, embroidery, wood crafts and stone carvings. Colin & I both had suits tailored here. It was relatively inexpensive. Colin went to town on the clothes thing. I tell you, for a guy this man loves to shop! He's coming home with 3 suits, 11 long sleeve shirts, 5 short sleeve shirts, 2 sport coats and 4 pairs of slacks. Crazy! I was much more conservative and had 3 suits made and a couple of summer dresses. The tailor we went to was very nice. Seeing that it's the garment district we've gotten the sense that there are a lot of gay men in this area. Personally I think the master tailor we were working with has a "thing" for Colin. While we were haggling over the price of Colin's gianormis order, the tailor was massaging his shoulders!!! Hah!
We also had a guided tour of the Hoi An today. Our guide, Vu, is from Hue (middle Vietnam) and holy-hannah is his accent difficult to make out! Speaking to him in Vietnamese was definitely tough. People in from Hue tend to speak Vietnamese with a very heavy sound. I know this sounds horrible but it's like a heavy, constipated pronunciation. It's really the only way I can think of decribing the difference. Just when I thought my Vietnamese is virtually fluent, we get a guide with an accent! I can't wait to try my hand at what things will be like when we get to Hanoi with yet another accent to try and figure out. Well I guess life is not without it's challenges!
Our tour included a brief history about the region and how the Japanese and Chinese have a strong influence here. We cycled all around town in these old rusty bikes and also peddled ourselves down to the beach at dusk. The beach was packed! It's funny here. You can head to the beach with nothing but yourselves and there are vendors there with mats you can rent and sit on and cold beers in hand, ready to serve you! You just can't get that at home!
So that's really all the excitement from the past 2 days - buying tailor made clothes and watching gay men hit on Colin. It's been a slice. :) Tomorrow we head out to Hue early in the morning at 7 am so I should hit the hay now.
P.S. - Mom, your warning about not drinking the snake & scorpion "rum" was too little too late. I've already had some. Sorry mamma. :)
3 comments:
Huh.... I think I need to hear more about this snake and scorpion .... and quite possibly I need to have some of my own.
Keep up the good work.
How long would you recommend spending in Hoi An? I'm thinking of going there in January.
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