OK, not really. But like most travellers who happen upon Hoi An, I spent way more than was budgeted. Hoi An is famous for its seamstresses who will whip up any cloth concoction you can conjure or point out in Vogue, tailor made to fit you just right. I received multiple warnings as I approached Hoi An, most notably from Helen (See “From the Mountaaaains to the Beach”), who had ended up purchasing 7, yes 7, dresses from one lucky seamstress. Despite these cautionary tales, I walked into the den of endless fabric, whirring sewing machines, and piles of fashion magazines, and immediately fell victim to Hoi An’s greatest temptations. One suit, 3 work shirts, 1 long sleeve casual shirt, and a traditional Vietnamese dress later (no worries, the dress includes pants, uh, 2 pants, actually…), I emerged from Hoi An with a backpack I can barely carry.

Aside from blowing my budget, I had a great time meeting a bunch of fellow backpackers in the hotel I stayed at just outside of town called Greenfields. With *free* banana rum punches from 6:30-7:30, unlimited high speed internet, and a gorgeous pool, it was worth the 15 minute walk.

The first day I arrived exhausted from my all night bus ride the night before from Nha Trang. It was difficult to sleep due to the fact that a) we kept pulling over for pit stops (one guy jumped out as a train was going by, and as the bus started to pull away, he calmly held up just one finger, as if to say ‘wait, just one sec’, and continued on for another 30 seconds despite the incessant honking — very funny) and b) the guy next to me would not stop falling over on me all night long.

After sleeping for a few hours and then emptying my bank account, I came back to the hotel to find a large group of international travellers hanging out by the pool soaking up the free drinks. We ended up going out that night in a big group of 10, stopping to do “shot guns” on the way to the bar (I held the camera, and did not partake).

The next day was spend shopping yet again, and touring the very charming city. That night, because of the long walk home, I committed to ‘going with the crowd’, as it were, and going home whenever everyone decided to go home. That got me an 8am return.

We headed out to the bar, then ended up walking to the other side of town once that was shut down. There were 5 of us total: Mike (UK), Jeff (US), Katie (Canada), and Kayleigh (UK), but walking across a dark bridge to the dark side of town made me nervous, nonetheless. I picked up a sharp rock for safety, much to the delight of my fellow comrades, who thought I was being ridiculous. We ended up at a bar where we stayed until clost to 5am, pouring our own drinks, and hanging out with the owner.

At around 4:30, soup appeared from out of thin air, as a guy carried three bowls in on a tray from the darkness for his friends. Jeff ordered a bowl, and I followed him out to see where this magic soup was coming from. I followed him down the road, and watched him turn into an ally. I was not 10 paces behind him, but by the time I got to the ally, we was completely swallowed up by the utter blackness. I ran back to the bar and waited for the soup. 10 minutes later it arrived, and was delicious. We still had no idea where it had come from.

At 5, we went to the fish market, where hundreds of townspeople were pulling fresh fish out of the boats and into the market place. The fish were absolutely enormous, so much bigger than anything I saw sold during the day. The locals weren’t used to seeing tourists at that hour, and we were clearly not welcome. But we tried to stay out of the way and soak up this crazy non-tourist attraction… I managed to get a few great pictures out of it.

Surprisingly, by 5:30 the whole town was bustling. People were drinking tea and eating breakfast, shopkeepers were opening doors getting ready for the day, and kids were already at school, exersizing in long lines. We headed back to the roof of the hotel and waited for the restaurant to open. At 7am, we headed down to the pool for a swim and an egg breakfast. I slept for 2 hours, ran down to the market to pick up my remaining clothes, and jumped on a bus to Hue.