Last days in Hoi An

Last days in Hoi An. Finalizing samples, shipping dates etc. Lunches & dinners with Thao & Huong, a visit to Miss hue & Gunner from V Cafe. Most important lunch at our favourite restaurant, Morning Glory.

I love in Vietnam when you buy sparkling mineral water it comes in bottles that I am sure are at least 30yrs old but are just constantly recycled.

Thao & Huong in front of their new house in Hoi An. They should be moving in very soon.

 No plane delays this time and we arrive in Ho chi Minh and arrive at the Hotel Continental.

 I feel like I am in the Carrington in Saigon.

Our room. Upgraded to a suite Yes!!! So over the top. I am sitting at the big old desk doing my blog and out of the window is the Opera house. Today is a public holiday, "Labour Day" so breakfast went until 10am.

This is the courtyard setting for brekky. I think there is a wedding here today and I found the cake decorator busy at work.

Hoi An Lamp trade

 I think everyone's favourite thing in Hoi An is the silk lanterns. Strung around the town some so faded and dusty others shining bright in many colours.

We stop for our traditional bucket of mojito by the river.

Then on to meet the company we met at the HCM trade fair to order lamps.

Again Mark's mathamatic brain ticks over calculating and impresses Miss Trinh. Next we need to work out shipping and this is where it all gets complicated. Although they are not heavy we need about 20 boxes to pack them in.

 So after lantern negotiations I notice an ear cleaner across the road. I have had a blocked left ear for days now from swimming and I have always been fascinated by the  traditional ear cleaners you see working on the side of the road and in markets throughout Asia. but have never had the courage to try it. Today is the day.

So he starts with a fluffy duster twirling in my ear. Then he starts with the long stick things and a miners light on his head. He scrapes and digs but it is very gentle. He shows me a wad of wax from one ear but didn't get to see in major discoveries.
I think he is finished then he proceeds to shave my forehead and all over my face. Next he pushes my head back on the cahair and with some drops in my eyes he starts to clean the inner rims of mt eyes. This I didn't like. then he rubs my face all over wit a moist towellette.

While this is all happening Mark gets the full treatment plus a haircut.

These are the ear instuments kept in a Heinikin  beer can.

HOI AN ancient town

......and then there was Hoi An. The traffic is far less here and cars are not allowed in the old quarter which is bliss. We do not understand why the old quarter in Ha Noi and other historical precincts don't have similar restrictions as much for the locals peace of mind as for the added dimension it would allow for travelers. Tourists and locals can amble the streets and shop to their hearts content. I must admit I have never seen so many tourists in Hoi An in the 11 years I have been coming here. Many are in big tour groups as are traveling as couples or alone. Europeans predominate either as neo-geriatric or as students with complicated gap year or with learning options that include traveling in groups of 30-40 and looking marvelous in the swimming pool. Someone should tell them that you don't get much mileage out of Scandanivian skin in the tropics.

The river at sunset and by nightfall the river side is lit up with coloured lanterns in all the cafes and shops. It really is lovely to stroll around the town.

 Today was spent bargaining for things for our shop and designing some silver pieces as well.
The new designs and samples are looking good. We had dinner with Thao and Huong last night and I ate my first JELLY FISH SALAD. What can I say it was interesting and I have been aching for revenge ever since being stung in the mouth and face by that bluebottle stinger more than 30 years ago.

Found this growing in the shower, that's the tropics for you and when I can figure out a use for it I might start importing them.

Can't give up the stars

After a decade of budget style accommodation and secret hotel room envy when we visit other acquaintances, we have finally joined the pool lounging jet set and we feel more attractive and younger every time we get a bill.

We randomly booked our hotel in Hoi An and have found ourselves yet again in a gorgeous room. Mark gently freaks out but soon relaxes in our new environment.

Back in Hoi An one of our favourite places in Vietnam. Here to see my new samples and start production. Some buying for the shop and eating.

 

First a swim after breaky

Then a walk around the ancient town. We have watched Hoi An change over the past 11 years from a sleepy old town with character and heritage. Strolling home through the old town this evening it is now a bustling busy shopaholics paradise.

Days in HCM

I chose this photo of me because it is a reflection and softens the image I usually see when a picture is taken. 

I have enjoyed HCM this time after a 10 year absence. Maybe it has something to do with the luxury accommodation  we have enjoyed so much here or just that I have cioped with the heat better than I expected.

The odd ice coffee helps especially when we set out to find a pagoda of interest with squffy instructions and hot humid day. We locate other bewildeed travellers and join forces to find the elusive Jade Pagoda. We come upon a pagoda no one is absolutely sure whether it is the one we are searching for but decide at this pont any pagoda will do.

They offer us living turtles as we enter he pagoda to put our names or a wish printed on their back but opt to leave the poor turtles unmarked

There are ponds full of turtles, coy and gold fish. The pagoda is made up of various rooms with different deities with lots of dark wood, caring, gold imagery and a haze of incense.

Back into Distict1 for some nem (spring rolls)

HCM is so much more sophisticated  than I remember from 10 years ago but still there is the real HCM in amongst the modern. This lady sitting selling a popular dish and just a couple of metres up from her parked was a brand new BMW convertible.

New Digs In Ho Chi Minh

After a few days of the busy & noisy district 1 of HCM what a relief to arrive at our apartment we booked weeks ago. We were upgraded to a 3 bedroom apartment all this room after small hotel rooms and the view!!!!

 this is our lounge room with elegant and simple furnishings

and our bedroom with ensuite masses of cupboard space and views

Location location location

Back to Hanoi

Back in Hanoifor a few days then on to Ho Chi Minh City to visit the trade show and catch up withsome friends.

Feeling Sideways in Sapa

When you are sick with a cold or virus you know it. In Vietnam we have a saying for when you are not sick nor well but just feel off and we call it "feeling sideways".
Was it the frozen air conditioned diesel infused fumes that blew over us in the sleeping berth on the night  train to Sapa? Was it something we ate or drank?
We got the business of skirt buying over with after breakfast on day 2. Mark is the number one negotiator.  We are thronged by diminutive Hmong and Red Dao women but try our hardest to just work with the women we have asked to bring certain items to us. Hill tribe women are a study in persistence. They know the action of water on stone over time as an effective corrosive and take that as their business model to negotiations. They are some of the best English speakers you can find and also speak French and a spattering of other Europeanese. and Chinese. Many cannot read or write including in Vietnamese, but we find them the most eloquent of people, fully focused on day to day matters, they laugh easily and generously but can be easily provoked into vexatious mockery, living in every moment and living outside the box.

 

The black Hmong bring us skirts and the Red Dao bring us pants and rolls of stamped hand woven hemp naturally dyed with indigo.

 

 Take some time out to wander in the markets and come across a doggy dinner!! Who could refuse. We apologise to animal lovers like ourselves and know this is offensive but this blog veritie and we are trying to understand how culture directs our values and appetites.

Off To Sapa

 Hanoi by night, crazy saturday night traffic

 An ice chendol from Thai express which has an enviroment that makes me feel like I am at home in a westfield plaza. Why does everyone strive to be generic & boring!!!

 Although this kind of signage is rare at home.

A busy back lane near our hotel with decorations still up  from the Hanoi celebration in October 2010.

A good walk around and stetch the legs before we get on the night train for Sapa in the North of Vietnam.

Sapa our  first view from our room after a misty first day. Got to get out and start haggling for hill tribe skirts.

ANOTHER DAY IN HANOI AND ROOM CHANGE

This is the view from our balcony in Hanoi. We changed rooms yesterday so we are for flights up a great work out for the legs.

This is Mark's favourite view with an amber tinge.



I discovered a great range of items which are produced using naturally dyed cottons, hemps & linens mixed with traditional hill tribe embroidery.
It is a Japanese & Vietnamese collaboration and a fair trade company.
All the fabrics are exquisite quality and the designs have the Japanese aesthetics of simplicity and quality.
I look forward to bringing them to you via my shop at www.omniagiftboxes.com.au

VIETNAM TRIP 2011

Is it better to wait 6hours on hard plastic seats in Ho Chi Minh domestic terminal while they find a plane that works or travel on a broken plane?
So many hours on we arrive in Hanoi where a trusty driver has also waited many hours to pick us up and delivers us weary and worn to our hotel.



After my drug induced deep slumber we head off to one of our favourite cafes for brunch.


Decide to walk off our weariness with a 10 km trudge around Ho Kiem Lake and some areas close to the river we rarely visit.
Our ambling brings us to the Hanoi Museum of History that has an exhibition of old gold treasures from the Nguyen Dynasty rarely seen.



Like these boots and crowns

So museum closes and they push us out so off we go again and come upon the opera house.
Hey there is a ballet tonight directed by a French coreographer so why not.
We bought tickets with our own box seat. Very flashy!! also a bit squishy.
The Hanoi Opera house is quite lovely in that old fashioned way.










I liked all the costumes as they were traditional to Vietnamese culture but I do have trouble interpreting dance story lines but was assisted with a programme found at the end of the night.