Friday 18th October - Hoi An

Jane said we were having a food tasting tour at 7am this morning so had us up at 6. Unfortunately it is to be tomorrow so nobody arrived at 7am & d*** was not amused.
At about 7.30 Avenel & Owen, our AVO friends from Quang Ngai surfaced & it was great to see them. They led us into Hoi An from our plushy resort hotel where we wandered the old part of the town. It was an important port until 18th century when it silted up & the trade moved to Danang turning it into a backwater. The old town has many Chinese, Vietnamese & Japanese buildings & survived the 'American War' virtually untouched. It is famous for tailoring & shoe manufacture & every 2nd shop seems to offer these services, whilst the others are cafes & art galleries or restored old homes. It reminded us of Malacca & Georgetown in Penang but not as well preserved as either.
Jane & Alan found another optician's shop & ordered new prescription sunglasses for delivery on the next day. Unlike in Hanoi, the optician tested their eyes & made the new ones according to his own readings. Jane also saw a dress she liked & is having it altered to fit. d*** ordered a new nightshirt from another place. We had coffee at a training centre for deaf kids & then visited several old houses & museums.

Saturday 19th October - Hoi An

All met at 7.20 to be picked up for a Hoi An Tasting walking tour, led by the illustrious Neville, a giant expat living here. Off we drove to a suburban market where we were ushered into a cafe for tea & our first tasting while Neville gave us an intro to Vietnamese eating habits & their attitudes to food, hygiene & health, which I found fascinating. From there we wandered through various market stalls, street vendors' stalls & other cafes as he explained that Vietnam has about 1700 dishes of which we ended up sampling about 40. He was the master operator, & pied piper introducing us to some of the people en route & explaining etiquette but after about 4 hours I was wilting somewhat from the pressure. We finally assembled in a back room of an old restaurant & he expounded on a huge range of foods which we dutifully sampled & launched into a diatribe on the effects of agent orange which apparently are still damaging the people & the land. Eventually we escaped & I for one was relieved that there was no written exam.
We wended our weary way back to the resort & after a well earned rest met by the pool where most had a swim before discussing the rest of the schedule.
Later we set off to collect all the purchases but it was too soon as most weren’t ready so we had a leisurely cruise along the river before returning to base for a seafood barbecue. Suitably fortified we set off again& after an initial hiccup, with more luck this time, at least for the sunglasses & Dick’s nightshirt. Jane’s dress needed further enhancement & Moira’s jacket will be ready tomorrow.

Sunday 20th October - Hoi An

Had breakfast & wandered into town to pick up Jane’s & Moira’s outfits. Today is 'Women’s Day’ & this caused some delay but in a few minutes her dress was back altered to fit her better.
After a coffee & a visit to an old ceramic museum we returned to the resort & stopped on the way to have lunch while the ladies went on to collect Moira’s outfit. The restaurant was like a food hall with the providing stalls all around displaying their wares & Alan, Owen & I ordered up a few dishes & some beers, before the ladies returned. The food was magnificent by any standards including marinated grilled chicken, stuffed baby squid in a ginger sauce & chicken wings all of which were truly excellent.
After checking out we all drove south to Quang Ngai to Avenel & Owen’s house on an unmade back lane 22 just about 150m from one of the main streets of the city. It is an unusual place to our eyes as it has a main room, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms on the ground floor then 2 more of each on the 1st floor & more on the 2nd one. Having settled in we sat around as Owen contacted local friends to invite them to meet us & 2 took up the offer. Mr Moih is from a community about 30kms inland & is an assistant administrator in the local party government there. He was very pleased to meet us & wanted to know about farming in Australia which is a bit hard to explain as a big farm here is 1000 sq M.

The other visitor was a teacher who works with Owen & was also excited to meet us. She brought us a lovely meal of a type of thin omelette with salad which we ate as a form of spring roll which was delicious. Then a 3rd person, a neighbour came with a very good grasp of English & discussed his role at the university.

When they left we repaired to a coffee house & then were home by 7.30 ready for bed.