Hoi An

When I arrived here in Hoi An the 9th of february I thought I was a bit suprised over the massive amounth of tourists. Therer where withe faces and people talking french, swedish and german all over the place. Although i knew this city was a big tourist attraction i did not know that the streets was filled with tourists, but then again, I am a tourist my self.

From my stay in Bangkok the last couple of days i had gotten a terrible cough and a runny nose from the AC, so everythin seemed a bit foggy. But as soon I had gotten my luggage up to my room in the beatiful Hai Au hotel, i bought some liquid tigerbalm( for drinking) for the throat and headed out in the streets.

The street picture in Hoi An could seem a bit chaotic in the beginning. There are some sense of traffic rules, the do tend to keep to the right, and the shops usually use the pathway to display their goods. So you have you have to carefull dodge chargig motorbikes and pushy shopkeepers.

One of my first days in town I went on a walabout in the marked area. The marked area makes out the central Hoi An and if you could protect yourself against the extremly agressive tailor-shop keepers you might just have a good time in the marked. If you take a short walk trough the first part of the marked which is mainly filled with cheap souvernirs and shoeshops you get to the food marked. Here you vil fine anything in fruit and vegtables that is grown localy. One of the fruit that i found very interesting was the dragon-fruit. It was pink an had a whitish pulp with black seeds, and it tasted like a watered-out kiwi. You can also buy everything fresh from mango to ginger.Somewhere inbetween the dusins vegtableshops you can find some live chickens. If you get into talking with the old ladys who sells them, you can bargain a chicken down to a couple of dollars. I bought a live one, although I donated it back to the shopkeeper after taking some pictures.

If you go even further into the heart of the marked place, down by the river you enter into the fish-marked. Boats from the river and the coast comes in to this marked early in the morning to sell ther catch of the night. I was there mid-day, but still boat-loads of fish where coming off the docks. There where everything from small oneman-river-fishing boats to big coastal boats unloading fish bigger than me (and I'm almost two meters tall). I bought an half kilo of mackerel and took som pictures, and then of course donated it back the the fisherlady. I am still a bit suprised over the quintity of shopkeepers which are women. Although, the men could do the nightwork for all i know.

After a long day stamping around in fishguts and chicken droppings i took aim for a opening in the marked out to the street. I found a quiet little cafè near the Japanese bridge, just east of the marked. I sat there while i was waiting for my girlfriend and her friends to take lunch. While waiting I got into talking with the owner, Ngang, who is a really nice guy. He is the owner of this cafè ( which by the way is named Bananasplit club) which serves cheap western food as wel as local food ( they serve a splendid Cao Lao), but he also owns a more local resturant acrossthe street, where me and some friends celebrated lunar new year (Tét). After a couple of bottles of the local brew, Larue, we agreed that I was to take cooking classes with him to learn the way of Vietnamese food.

The days is very distinct here in Hoi An, each day is a new chanche to discover something new about the town. Either you go to the beach or just ride youre bicycle on the countryside the area is filled with exciting people who always is glad to see you.

It is hard to describe Hoi An in words, and even harder to capture the life in a picture, but i will trie to do my best trough different enteries in my blogg over the next two months of my stay in this beatiful town.