Hoi An, Vietnam

Today was a bit of a waste.  When I was here 10 years ago, I ordered shoes.  The shoemaker came to the hotel the night before I was leaving but the shoes did not fit.  They promised they would be back before I left early the next morning but I never saw them again .  Not only was I out the shoes, I was also out the money.  I filed a report with Mastercard but lost the case.  So this trip I made sure I had plenty of time to get fitted for both clothes and shoes.  I received the shoes yesterday and the clothes the day before so today I had nothing to do.  I am reading the book First They Killed My Father and it is more depressing than the movie and the tours in Phnom Penh.  I had short visits with Alberto from Sardinia and a girl from the U.K. but was bored and a little lonesome.  Today was the first time I have felt lonesome all trip.

Of course I had another egg coffee, then had Vietnamese pancakes-

You use a couple sheets of rice paper and place herbs, shredded carrots and papaya and the actual piece of pancake on the rice paper and roll it up.  There’s also a mildly spicy dipping sauce.  I also had an order of fresh rolls but what makes them delicious for me is the peanut sauce and this was not that-

I had no idea what the pancakes would be like and if I had known I would not have had the spring rolls because they are pretty similar.  Oh well, I have leftovers for breakfast in the morning.

A van will pick me up at 9 tomorrow morning and we will head to Da Nang airport as my flight leaves at 12:40 to Hanoi.  I will stay in the Old Quarter of Hanoi for 2 nights and then go to Sapa.  Unfortunately the forecast is cold and rainy at Sapa so I may not do an overnight trek however I am still going to go and if I spend 3 days at a homestay, that will be okay too.

I doubt I will ever return to Hoi An because I do not have the imagination to know what clothes I want made.  I like going into a store, trying something on and buying it.  At least I know that now!

These last 2 weeks are going to fly because I will be covering a lot of ground and seeing a lot of new things!  Looking forward to it!