We love Hoi An.

Our flight left Hanoi at 21.30 last night, so it was a very late arrival to The Hoi An Historic Hotel. Reception staff were very pleased to see us because it meant it was bedtime for them once we were sorted! We didn't see much of it last night but this morning we could see it properly and it is amazing! The pool looks very inviting.

Very slow start this morning, and first job on the agenda for Brenda was to go to Morning Glory (yes, that's right) Restaurant to pay a deposit for our market tour and cooking class. We headed down to town to see the tailors. We were coralled by a motorbike hawker to go "look my shop, 1 minute..."  Well, that was it. They had the fabrics I wanted (eventually) so I ordered a shirt and pants. Brenda turned up, probably coralled by the same hawker and ordered 2 shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of shorts. Fitting tomorrow and should be ready either later tomorrow or Wednesday. If she does a good job I might get another top. Shop 52 in the cloth market and her name was Wa (pronounced Na). While we were checking out the tailoring a very nice lady stood around giving us all shoulder massages. We should have realised what was going on...... once the deals were done, she pipes up "you come my shop, massage for you". How much?? $5 20 minute. ......Ok, let's go. It was lovely and might even go back and see her tomorrow.

We find out later that Anke found herself a tailor too and ordered some clothes. She went to Phuong at Thinh Lien shop at 8 Nguyen Thai Hoc St. We paid Phuong a visit as Anke had seen some fabric there that she thought Carolyn would like. I had another shirt made, Carolyn got shirt and pants and Brenda got something as well. She was a lovely lady and treated us a bit better than Na did. Na was a bit dismissive of us once she had us on the hook. 

It's actually very sad to see how few tourists there are here now. It's more noticeable here than it was in Hanoi, although the hawkers there told us numbers were down.

a very quiet Hoi An

Lunch at the Mermaid Restaurant opposite the Cloth Market and dinner at Streets Restaurant which trains up the poor local kids into hospitality jobs.

We spent some time talking to the women in the Hoi An market. Stand outs were Anh, a souvenir seller at shop 5, and Kim, a shoe maker at Phu Thien, shop 12.

            Streets Restaurant in Le Loi St