Hoi An - last full day
We ate breakfast around 7:30 am. The usual tropical fruit and cornflakes, coffee, cinnamon croissants etc. Gary lived on the wild side and had one small croissant with the usual 4 plates of fruit and a bowl corn flakes. The milk is never cold here and it really matters on dry cereal. The coffee is never piping hot either! We figured out why our coffee wasn’t hot, the coffee pot is sitting on a warmer that is turned off.
We snagged a couple of small umbrellas for insurance today. As it happened, there was no rain of any consequence.
We wandered around Old Town Hoi An, now that we know the lay of the land. It’s fun just looking at the shops and not buying anything. There are fruit, vegetable and fish markets along the river and the produce is beautiful and plentiful. The mangos here are HUGE!
At 11 am we went back for a tailor fitting. The shirts for Gary are all done, collars fit his neck. It will remain to be seen if he is happy with the cut of the shirt after the altering of the collar. The pants and suit are perfect. Silk lined suit jackets, that’s a first! The silk lining was an extra $10 or $12 USD, can’t recall the exact amount.
Linda had her shoe fitting at 1 pm and the shoes fit like a glove! The handbag was also perfect. We got everything back to the tailor and paid the final bill as well as the cost for shipping everything home. If it goes well our stuff will be waiting at home when we arrive. It’s getting shipped to our neighbour who was kind enough to accept the challenge of receiving the 13.5 Kg package. 2 suits, 6 shirts for Gary. Linda gets 1 sexy black dress, one coat, one pair of shoes and one handbag. All custom made to order!
We finished off the evening at a cool little riverfront restaurant named the Thành restaurant. The food was excellent. Because of the full moon celebration all of the restaurant lights and street lights were turned off and we ate by candle light. The boats on the river are all lit with Japanese style paper or fabric lanterns. It was quite beautiful. We were pretty much done supper and ready to leave when a lady came along and asked us if we were english speaking. So the conversation started with her, she was from Montreal. Eventually she sat down and we visited for 45 minutes. She was travelling alone, 64 years old, she also had a few stories to tell. It was quite interesting. We left her to finish her meal, which by the way was the same dish Gary ordered, chicken fire roasted on a banana leaf. It was excellent and served with rice. She also taught us the official and correct way to use chop sticks. She took a cooking class in China. It was a good night!
Back at the hotel it was bedtime, our feet were tired. We wore our running shoes today to help preserve our feet on the uneven streets. Running shoes are not as cool as flip flops but the chance to break your neck or elbow are considerably less.