Hoi An is the center of the cloth trade in Vietnam, meaning more tailors! These tailors were much cheaper than in Thailand, so we had some more clothes made. And even commissioned custom shoes to be made. Again we had to ship a box home...
The historic city is very quaint, with centuries of history:
We were absolutely enamored with the carved wood furniture with mother-of-pearl inlays sold here and came very close to buying a set for a steal (would go for 3 times that much in the US we were certain) except we got spooked by the possible customs duties as well as some sneaking suspicions about the prohibition of Ebony importation...
There is a lovely beach nearby where we spent Canada Day (July 1), the next day we rented a moped (here's a self-portrait):
to head up the beach to famous China Beach (of the TV Series in the 90s, and also the real life beach where US GI's had R&R during the 'American War' as it is called here) The beach was beautiful and deserted except for the fisherman and their basket shaped boats:
We woke up early on July 4, for a 'sunrise' tour of the My Son temple ruins. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a warm up for Angkor Wat in Cambodia which we will visit in a few days. In true Vietnamese fashion, the trip did not exactly live up to its billing, as we arrive at the ruins 1 hour after sunrise, but still half an hour before the site opened. Nevertheless, the site was interesting and lovely:
A large part of this ancient site was bombed during the war, the bombing stopped only after an prominent French archaeologist wrote a letter to Richard Nixon requesting that the cultural heritage sites be spared. They are still finding bomb shells from the war even to this day, this large shell was found in May of this year in the jungle and is on display:
The war has left quite a mark on this country that lingers to this day. It is unfortunate that the US did not learn it's lesson over 30 years ago...
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