High Expectations

After everything positive everyone had said about Hoi An and the terrible bus ride to get here, I had very high expectations. I knew my expectations were unachievable but I rolled with it and today was actually a lot of fun.

We got to the hotel very early from our bus and the breakfast buffet was still going on so we jumped on that. They had cereal!! I have been craving cereal for weeks but all that you ever get for free anywhere are eggs drenched in oil or noodles for breakfast. I gorged myself on cereal while Janelle started at me in disbelief that I was getting bowl after bowl of cereal. After breakfast we were able to check into our room, take showers and we headed into the old town part of Hoi An.

The old town in Hoi An is a UNESCO heritage site and as such there are few hotels or guesthouses actually in the old town and none that we could afford. We stayed about a Kilometer away and walked into town to walk around. The building are all very old and there are a lot of shops that make custom clothes.

Janelle really wanted to get a dress made so we went in to a couple of the LP suggested tailors and they were all really expensive. We found another place with much more reasonable prices and Janelle got to design her own dress that is supposed to be ready by tomorrow morning!

After dress shopping I was starving so we had lunch along the river. I ate a dish called cau lao and it was amazing.

Cau Lao is a noodle dish, but the noodles have a pasta texture, with pork slices, bean sprouts, lettuce and Vietnamese croutons. Many of the restaurants in the old town are located along the river and sell "fresh beer" known in Vietnam as Bia Hoi. The Bia Hoi is made fresh daily to be drank that day and sells for 3000 VND ($0.14 USD), an amazing deal. I spent the rest of the day measuring the price of everything in respect to Bia Hoi. Why would I buy that tube of toothpaste when I could get 10 Bia Hoi for the same price!

We spent the rest of the day walking around going into old temples, houses and gathering spaces.

Check out the rest of the pictures of Hoi An in the slideshow below: