Hoi An, Day 3 (Jan. 13, 2015)

I had a great day. Though the weather forecast said it was supposed to rain the whole time I was in Hoi An, I got lucky and it was cloudy for the first part of the morning, then got sunny. Jodie and I decided to take the scooters and go to My Son (pronounced Me Sun). It is an ancient area about an hour out of town, with ruins of temple and adjoining buildings. The ride out there was as good, if not better, than the ruins themselves. We ate breakfast before leaving, and took a photo with the people we have been socializing with, while all together at the hostel. Such nice people I’ve been meeting.

Me, two of the girls who work at the hostel, Jamie, and Sean

We rode through little quiet towns along the way, with very little traffic, lots of friendly people waving to us and yelling hello, and absolutely gorgeous scenery. There were rice paddies, with people tending their areas, building scarecrows out of poles, colourful plastic raincoats and old motorcycle helmets on top to scare the rice eating egrets, or whatever they were. That’s what they looked like, though a lot bigger.

I totally loved riding through these little roads on the way to the ruins. The weather was windy, but I had a lot of layers on, so it wasn’t too bad. Jodie was freezing and had tons of clothes on, but still wanted to stop along the way to buy one of the many, famous face warmers that all the Vietnamese wear in ‘winter’, which it is now……lol. She had her hood up, underneath her bike helmet, as well as gloves, wind pants and jacket, long sleeved shirts and a scarf. She’s from San Francisco, so I guess I can understand. I was chilly here and there, but nothing of much consequence for how long we rode. 

Me, in on my scooter, stopped in
the little town for Jodie to buy her
face mask

Selfie en route

Jodie and me en route to My Son

We stopped for a coffee on the way to My Son and sat in a deserted cafe, on a little road, and spoke with the sweet girl who worked there. She was so friendly and talkative and spoke a bit of English. We ended up taking some photos with her and we all laughed a lot. 

Jodie, coffee shop girl, and me

Coffee shop girl posing for pic

The coffee shop we stopped at

Then we made our way to My Son and walked through the ruins. It was a lovely, peaceful place, except for the hoards of tourists that began to show up on buses. We just avoided them as the place is kind of spread out and they have to follow a set path with their guides. We didn’t, so just went where they weren’t. It worked out really well. It was very old, and some things had been destroyed during the war, but many parts were still in great order and intact. I was happy to visit the place as it had great energy and was beautiful.

Beautiful Goddess

Trail to the temples

Inside one of the temples/altar

Me, in the ruins

Temple at ruins

Ad for My Son Ruins to see it fully

Then we set off, back to Hoi An, because Jodie had to return her motorbike and I had to drop off at the tailors, to see about my shirt alterations. We went to the tailors place first, saw the top, which was quite nice, but needed some little slits put into the cuffs of the sleeves. Otherwise, it was great, so I asked if they could make me another one, to be ready tomorrow, with the exact same design, only with flared sleeves on it, and in purple. She said they could, so I left the first one there, and ordered the second one. It is quite addicting getting clothes made to a custom fit for such a reasonable price. I paid $15 each for the tops and they will shelter me from the sun, in such a light and breathable fabric. I know I will make use of them in Indonesia, and anywhere else that the sun is strong and hot. They are really nice. Oh, I also got the lady to reinforce my little carry bag that I bought in Hanoi, as the straps near the bottom, were coming loose. She did an excellent job and it was much more secure.

Ladies at the tailor's

Inside of tailor shop

Street view of tailor shop

Jodie and I stopped at that famous Bahn Mi place and got two each to go. We tried the ones we had yesterday, but also decided to try the other kind, which was chicken and cheese. It sounds awful, but was absolutely yummy, with the same spicy sauce and other herbs. Then we stopped at a wine shop that some locals had told us about, dropped off her bike, and headed back to the hostel. Jodie was leaving tomorrow at 5:30 am to catch a flight to Hanoi. So we went back, met up with Jamie and Sean from San Francisco, and another new fellow, Edward who had just arrived, from Singapore. We all sat around chatting and eating our Banh’s and drinking some wine. It was still quite early so that was nice because it was light, sunny and the beach was lovely.

Jodie in front of Banh shop

Anthony Bourdain on sign
of Bahn shop

When Jodie began to pack, I walked on the beach, then we all went for supper to the next door restaurant. I wasn’t that hungry because of the Banh’s but went along anyway. It was fun to hang out with everyone and find out about each other’s culture and customs.

Later on, we had a bonfire on the beach with a bunch of the other people who were staying at the hostel. It was really windy, but lovely around the fire. I was pretty tired from biking all day, so went for a while, but then hit the sack around 11:30. I had things to do in the morning, which I’ll tell you about in the next blog……lol.

Edward from Singapore at the fire

Sean, Jamie and me at the windy fire