Hoi An, Viet Nam - January 26, 2018

Hoi An is a part of Central Vietnam Nam. It is an island nestled between the Hoi An River and the Thu Bon river, and is about 5 miles from the beach on South China Sea.

The city is ancient; and its well-preserved buildings reflect Chinese, Japanese, French and Vietnamese architecture dating back to the 15th century all interlaced, sitting side by side on the streets. This early port city was important for trading silk, gunpowder and paper made here. It's still reflects mixtures of eras and culture including The Japanese Bridge, multiple temples to honor important ancient and sometimes mythical individuals to whom many still pray. It has angular Vietnamese tube houses (built in a tube design to avoid high taxes levied on houses with wide fronts to the street), and ornate Chinese homes built by wealthy merchants -- still occupied today by what would be 7th or 8th generation Chinese but are now considered Vietnamese.

Our day was started off with a visit to the modest hotel gym for exercise. My Lord, this place reminds me of Bali!!! The building, the grounds, the pool, the air. . . everything! But this is in fact, Viet Nam. We had a breakfast of the usual USA traditional fare or we could choose a selection of Pho, rice, vegetables, fruit, breads, and in and on. I have eaten little but local food since we started this trip - I get totally excited about trying new foods. I have discovered so many new things that I will certainly learn to prepare at home.

We met Phia, our guide for Hoi An, at 9 am; he is a 65-year old man who was shocked that he is younger than Stan. Well, surprise, surprise! Phia does not look old; but everyone looks older than Stan!

Phia has lived here his whole life except for attending Catholic Seminary. He has three sons and two daughters who all have good jobs and live nearby except for one son. This son and his family lives in Garland, Texas. Phia and his wife visit in Garland 2.5 months every few years. He know as much about that area than we do and we lived there in Plano for four years. And here we are in ancient Vietnam, and this guy who has ridden all over Garland and Plano, Texas, is guiding us here in ancient water-village. This is a small world indeed.

We walked all over old Hoi An. I kept looking for a newer part of the town but for all I know there may be nothing more to the town than Old Hoi An itself. I tried to ask someone today who spoke English fairly well if there was a New Hoi An as well as the ancient section we are visiting but my question made no sense to them.

We saw several temples, not Buddhist temples but temples no the less. The people here this are very pragmatic. Their source religion is Taoist faith. Instead of praying to an ethereal Buddha, they most often pray to a deity, one who serves the people in time of danger or need. Only a few people practice formal religion.

We walked through their typical market offering fresh fruit and vegetables of every kind in season. Because we have great International Markets in Atlanta we were familiar with many of the varieties. Still, there were many things we have never encountered before. We asked where we might see mangosteen but, guess what, it is not in season at this time.

Because I expressed interest in purchasing a silk table runner, Phia took us to a silk factory just a couple of blocks from the main markets. Silk worms busied themselves gorging on mulberry leaves on flat baskets. We were told they eat for three days, sleep for one day over and over during a 16-day period then they eat constantly for another 17 days. Finally the worm is tired, fat and ready to spin its silk cocoon. The worms are moved to a site that held racks of worms in various stages of cocoon creation. We were shown how the finished cocoon silk is spun into thread and finally woven into cloth. Since I was a little girl and first heard about silk worms living in mulberry trees in China, I have always been fascinated with stories of silk. What an educational treat!

Our walk with Phia was complete about one pm. That gave us the afternoon to pretend we are on vacation. Stan worked on our small computer -- it has fried and will charge or accept electricity only intermittently. This means only a few photos can be uploaded to the Off Exploring blog until we find a repair shop. We hope to have it repaired in Saigon - meanwhile if you see no blogs it is because the laptop is still on the blink. Meanwhile, I will continue to write and take photos and will post when I can.

I took a load of clothes to the laundry across the street. The price was $1 for each kilo of clothing. Good dang deal!

Then we lounged and listened to our book, A Column of Fire, by Ken Follett -- if you've not read or listened to this great historical novel, you must.

At 5 pm the hotel hosted a sampling of traditional foods, cooked on tiny clay charcoal pots. They served banana cakes, fresh spring rolls, and other stuffs I just don't know yet. They fried crepes of rice flour seasoned with anchovy sauce and minced vegetables. Then they quartered the crepe and placed it on a piece of edible rice paper and filled it with the thinnest sliced slivers of vegetables like cabbage and carrot and mint. They rolled it up and voila! Add a bit of rice wine vinegar and chili sauce and you get . . . Heaven!

Later in the evening we had BBQ at the outdoor dining room overlooking the pool. The BBQ included a vast array of items grilled on a small charcoal grill at the table. We had skewers of chicken, shrimp, squid, beef, pork, lady fingers (okra), tomato, onion and eggplant. All was really fresh, perfectly cooked and really delicious!

I like this place.