hue're did ya go?

the last time we spoke, i was still writing about hoi an...and as promised, i will continue to for the sake of rita, my mother, and ellen's family.
we were eating food...normal stuff, strolling the streets of the ancient city, when we were pounced upon by the tailors of hoi an. shop after shop was exploding with rolls of colorful wool and silk, plastic buttons, and dusty magazines from the late 90's. we had been forewarned of the seductive power of these tailors, but as recent fashion victims, we both embraced the opportunity to try on clothing that hadn't been worn five days in a row or emblazoned with bad english phrases or glitter. flipping through a korean fall/winter catalogue from 2008, i found my jacket match; a short wool jacket with slight princess sleeves that reeked of long nights of bike riding and drinking beer in new york city (with a helmet). dog-earring the page, i promised the sales associate that i'd return tomorrow after making my final decision.
sadly, we had to flee the scene by 8ish in order to secure seating by the river for the "lights out hour". i don't know it's international title, but we were informed that at 8 o'clock, everyone would shut off their power for an hour in conjunction with the rest of the world. elbowing our way onto a lantern-lit bridge, we could see locals setting lotus-shaped paper lanterns containing candles out onto the water. those on the shore who couldn't quite figure out how to get their lanterns onto the water simply dropped them in, hoping they would float. they didn't, but it was quite sweet as fits of laughter were periodically heard following a loud splash.
as per usual, we rented bikes the next day and headed to the beach. we argued with a parking lot attendant (yes, you "must" use designated lots) and then tromped off to argue with the beach chair renters. my day was spent collecting shells, adjusting a major wedgie, drinking iced coffee, swimming laps in the nearby pool (the beach chair rental included pool access!) and yelling at ellen while i tried to draw people sunning. on our return ride, we sped past some of the tailors we had visited the previous evening and vowed that after showering, we would take the plunge and commit to having some clothes made.
i awarded the first tailor shop with the honour of making my crazy cool jacket. the outside is a royal blue wool and ellen helped me choose a gold silk pattern that my grandmother would have appreciated as the lining. spreading the wealth, we asked another tailor to make us both sundresses from jersey material. tired from living the high life, we headed back to the same vegetarian restaurant to indulge yet again in noodle/tofu eden.
on day three we caved and signed up for yet another tour, this time to the ruins of my son. we specifically asked the travel agent to simply get us bus tickets; no tour talk, no bad lunches, etc. we ended up on a tour bus anyway, but the guide was quite animated and kept me mildly entertained. the ruins were good, but it was hard to not compare them to angkor wat, or even the other champa ruins that we had seen in nha trang. they fell a bit shorter on the magical scale, but there honestly wasn't much left to see. according to mr. animated, the americans had bombed this area, believing that it was a viet cong stronghold.
since it was a half-day tour, we were back in the city by lunch time. at a small restaurant, we befriended a fellow american from seattle who oddly resembled an older version of my brother. we made plans to meet for dinner and parted ways; ellen and i set out to discover the old city and he went to do some man things. according to the tour books, for 75,000 dong you could purchase a ticket to enter all of the chinese merchant houses/temples...or, you could show up an hour before closing and play dumb while wandering through the courtyards and shooting pictures before being approached by the ticket collectors.
we returned to the tailors for our second fittings and met our american pal in order to introduce him to the glory that was "quay chay". after stuffing our faces, we headed to the riverside to drink some "fresh beer", which i assume means locally brewed. we were a bit tipsy as we walked back to our cockroach/ant infested room which made falling asleep with the insects crawling around a bit easier.
day four...the reappearance of the motorbike! ellen and i rented a mean machine and headed out to marble mountain and china beach. it was raining heavily as we approached the main mountain's base and took refuge in a marble shop. we were coerced into buying coffee (which im always up for) and ponchos in exchange for the shopkeeper watching our helmets. climbing a mountain composed of marble in cheap flip flops was not ideal, but that's all i had to work with. whilst trying to relieve myself during our ascent, i was surprised by the presence of a tangerine colored japanese tourist who happened upon us. ellen was supposed to be on look-out duty, but apparently it was my fault, as i neglected to realize that her shouting, "oh what a lovely day!" meant that someone was approaching. recovered, we continued through several temple areas and caves before hand-and-foot climbing up a sketchy staircase that led to a look out point. it was quite a view and we tried to plot our path to the beach.
riding off, we were still a bit apprehensive about how to reach the shoreline, as the areas along the water had been fenced off into small parcels that might have denoted private land, landmines, who knows. choosing a small path that led to a guest house, we parked the bike with a local woman who made us swear to buy beverages from her at a later point in the day. i had my fingers crossed.
it was still cold and rainy and the tide was pretty high. we waded in the water for a few minutes, before jumping back on the bike to dine at a local roadside restaurant. in china, eating at smaller restaurants with locals is always cheaper than the western wannabee establishments, and in vietnam, this rule holds true as well...most of the time. after scarfing down a modest meal of rice, tofu, and some sad greens, the woman slapped us with a 60,000 dong bill. ellen argued her down to 40, but neither party was pleased as we sped off back towards the hotel.
our plans for later in the day included visiting a small potter's village. we had a general circle of where it was on the map, but figured the locals would just point us in the direction of a potter as it was a hot spot on the tourist circuit. by chance, we ended up in the driveway of a family who were potters! they adopted us for several hours and let us prance through their yard and home. ellen made some pots while i conversed with their youngest son who spoke pretty good english. the father took a liking to me because well, i make pretty animated faces, and showed me his wedding photos, along with those of his ten children. we were even awarded free souvenirs as we said our goodbyes. one of the potters even fed us some corn.
back in town, we picked up ellen's dress and split a chocolate pastry to die for. i believe ellen has mentioned this pastry in a previous post. we had a few hours to catch some shut-eye before our bus to hue. part three in the works...