Shopping!

Our last day in Nha Trang was frantic.  Just flat tack all day.  Not a minute to spare.  Cultural highlight after cultural highlight, walking miles from pagoda to temple to scenic wonderla…. oh who the hell am I kidding?  I did decide that (unlike certain nameless travel companions…) I couldn’t quite cope with the idea of an entire day doing nothing on the beach again, so after breakfast and swapping one of my books at Shorty’s Cafe (and book exchange, obviously), I beat the streets to check out Long Thanh Gallery.

Long Thanh is apparently Vietnam’s most prominent photographer – although given the accuracy of much of the rest of the information in the Lonely Planet for this country, he could be the guy that was cleaning out the dustbins beside the hotel this morning for all I know.  I mean, I’m well aware that any guide book is just that – a guide – but this one does seem to be a lot less accurate than others I’ve used, and it’s only a year old.  Oh well, makes for more interesting adventures at least – and hopefully a good photo of the ritual burning of the aforementioned book in Hanoi!

Anyway, back to the point … Long Thanh.  His photos were fantastic, but sadly (although not all that unexpectedly given the Lonely Planet effect ) they were priced out of the reach of this backpacker.  Pity, I would have liked one or two for the wall of wherever I end up living.  Still, I’ve got his business card, and I’m sure he’ll post overseas once I start earning again and can justify that kind of expense on art.  Certainly wasn’t a waste of time though, as I got to check out a large chunk of the real (ie, non-tourist) Nha Trang on the way there and back.  And probably sweated off several kilos as well, it was a decent walk and the temperature wasn’t exactly chilly.

After a few hours at the beach (well, I couldn’t resist all day…), dinner and a few drinks, we managed a remarkably early night.  Perhaps due to the pre-6am start the next day – there’s only one flight from Nha Trang to Hoi An, and it leaves at 7.45am.  Buggerit.

So bidding farewell to the lovely people at the Nha Trang Beach Hotel  (highly recommended by the way, big clean and mostly quiet rooms, aircon, wifi, etc etc, for $22 USD per night), we caught the short flight to Danang and then cruised down to Hoi An.  It’s the smallest place we’ve stopped at on this trip – only 80,000 people – and unlike much of the rest of the country that has been bombed into oblivion, Hoi An retains a lot of original Chinese architecture in the narrow and winding streets of the Old Town.

Checking into our hotel by mid-morning, we set off exploring for a while.  Within minutes (if not seconds) the other big appeal of Hoi An had us both well and truly hooked.  Shopping.  My lord, this place is heaven for anybody with any desire whatsoever for new clothes, shoes, backpacks or god knows what else.  So within the space of a couple of hours and fewer kilometres, we’d both bought t-shirts and day packs, been measured up for new suits and shirts, and ordered some custom made shoes as well.  All at prices far, far lower than anywhere else I’ve ever been.  Obviously the backpacks are just rip offs of the brand name versions, and the t-shirt quality probably isn’t all that great either, but the calibre of the rest of the clothing should hopefully be as good if not better than the stuff that costs at least 3x as much back home.  All will be revealed when we pick them up in the next day or two, I guess…

It was stinking hot by this stage, so a dip in the hotel pool seemed like a good plan – which indeed it was.  I did a bit more exploring in the early evening before the threatening rain sent me heading back again.  But now the weather seems to have passed and it’s time to get a suit fitting and then find some dinner.  As you do…

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