D16

This morning we went on a walking tour of Hoi An. What a cute town. Situated on the Hoai River and South China Sea (Pacific Ocean) the town of 120,000 is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered to be a very well preserved historical example of a SE Asia trading port. Much of the main town is pedestrian traffic only. Shops and restaurants about plus over 400 tailors. Hoi An is definitely the place for custom clothing. Lanterns hang over the roads and incense is burning everywhere for Vietnamese people (especially here) are quite superstitious. They have strong beliefs in astrology, feng shui and spirits. Feng Shui is especially important here in Vietnam. They use geomancy and feng shui interchangeably and someone who practices feng shui is called a geomancer. Which is a bit confusing to me but anyway. Feng Shui literally translates into wind and water. All temples and important buildings have a water feature as well as the set up to maximize airflow.

All the streets in town have lanterns hanging across. The lanterns represent good luck and the business owners start their day burning incense in their shop. They also put cacti on the roofs of the buildings to ward off evil spirits.

After our walking tour we went to the tailor of course. Jason and I are having suits made. Tuan brought us a snack during the fitting-a delicious, messy, mouth-watering Banh Mi. Ma was in heaven. She's been talking about getting a Banh Mi for two weeks now. Anthony Bourdain said this was the best Bánh Mi in town and consequently their napkins featured his portrait. It did not disappoint.

Tuan also educated us on the origin of Pho, arguably the most popular Vietnamese dish in the world. See back when the French colonized the area in the late 1800s, women walked around carrying baskets, two on each end of a stick with a rope holding the baskets. They'd carry the stick over their back balancing the baskets in either side. One held coals and a pot to cook the broth and the other held the noodles, meat, and condiments. When a Frenchman wanted the dish he would yell "feu" which is "fire" in French for the woman to come over. Feu sounds like Pho and so it became.

We went to a very interesting temple today. It looked like a Buddhist temple but in fact it was a temple of no religious affiliation at all. And how could you tell? It had no wheels or swastikas. This temple was for sailors to worship the Sea Goddess. It was called Phuoc Kien (I can't make this s*** up guys). The temple is protected by two vampires who used to eat people. One, Thien Ly Nhan, means 1000 vision and he could see 1000 miles. The other vampire, Thien Ly Nhi, means 1000 hearing and he could hear 1000 miles. But then they were tamed by sea goddess and were able to rescue men trapped out at sea. And they stopped eating people and became good. This represents that even evil can be tamed into good...like how I tamed Jason.

Tuan grew up here and says kids were afraid to come inside this pagoda because of the vampires.

Since the Banh Mi was just a snack we headed for a real lunch on what Tuan called, a foodie tour. We sampled a few of Hoi An's famous cuisine.

1. Cao Lau-special rice noodles cooked in ash water from wood local to Cham Islands; served with pork and vegetables

2. Mi Quang-also rice noodles with pork and vegetables but these noodles are cooked with saffron so look like egg noodles

3. White rose dumplings-made from rice flour with pork and shrimp paste in the middle (and here I was thinking shrimp paste had no place in my mouth ever) and it was delicious. Had fried shallots and garlic on top and dip in a tasty lime and fish sauce

We ventured back to the hotel after a late lunch and swam in our pool. TB skinny-dipped. She loved it. Then we read and relaxed. Jason and dad ordered cheeseburgers and fries for dinner while mom and I pretended not to be hungry then ate half their food. Typical women.