I am still very pleased with my tailor-made acquisitions (I went in at 12:30 for a fitting and the alterations should be done by 4:30. Fast, plus the clothes look pretty great). However, I'm beginning to be a little lukewarm about Hoi An generally. The main problem: EVERYONE is selling something. And they really want you to buy it. Enough to interrupt your lunch to ask 50 times if you want salted peanuts or crystallized ginger. Enough to ride past you on a bicycle, stop to say hello, then drag you to their tailor shop. Enough to ask you where you're staying so that they can find you to drag you on a boat ride down the river, even as you protest that you suffer from motion sickness (I don't, but I do suffer from pushy sales person sickness). Even the laundry services are competitive, with people calling you from across the street to remind you to use their service. The losing bidders then scold you for having gone with a competitor. At a dollar a kilo, I can't see how it's worth the extra energy required to scold.
On the bright side, I should be able to find a smallish piece of luggage to accommodate my new purchases for $10 max. And the food, while priced for tourists, is still pretty reasonable.
Tomorrow: cooking class, a self-guided city tour, a boat ride (yes, I'm going to cave), and shopping avoidance (unless I find something really irresistible, or cave in and have some shoes hand-made).
A word on the hotel: cute, nice service, a gym (first time there's been one of these in the 2 months I've been traveling). Sadly, the sheets seem to have not been washed (extreme measures are being taken to save energy, apparently) and there are a host of tiny bugs (and bigger spiders) everywhere. I'm hoping they tiny bugs are the kind that stay put, and not lice or bed bugs, because I'd like to leave Hoi An solo.
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