Hoi An

Fortunately I was only 2 hours away from my next destination, Hoi An. Hoi An is a smaller place with lots of character and old buildings. History goes back over 400 years here with many of the buildings hundreds of years old. The town was spared bombing during the Vietnam war, which is known here as the American War. It's a quaint little town with many tailor shops, restaurants, travel agents and souvenir shops. I do a bit of shopping. I call my friends Dave and Adita. I met them in Cat Tien and again near Dalat. It's been 6 days since I've talked to them but I thought I'd call him to see where he's at. Oh yeah, I bought a cellphone here, it's useful to keep in touch with people here and much cheaper than at home. I got a hold of Dave and he was actually in a taxi going to Hoi An! What a coincidence. He stayed at another city for 5 days and then came to Hoi An. We met up for dinner.

I spent the next day walking around Hoi An. I will often buy 2 dragonfruits and 2 mangoes at the same time. I have a really good idea of what the price is for this, usually around $2. If it's a lot more than that, I know somethings up. So I go to buy fruit here and the women wants a lot more than it should be. I tell her the price and she says no, so I just bought the dragonfruit. As I walk away she's bargaining with me for the price and finally comes down to the normal price. I can't believe I even have to bargain hard for fruit here! This is the problem with Vietnam and why most of the people who I met who had come here didn't like it. I can totally understand. You shouldn't have to bargain hard for everything, but that's how it is ans as a foreigner, it's really frustrating and pisses you off. I have to bargain for fruit, hotel rooms, buses, motorcycles, even a newspaper! There are many disabled people selling newspapers here. They hassle you while you're eating breakfast. I overheard a transaction this morning. The seller wanted $4 for a tiny newspaper, that is more like a flyer! I never heard of anywhere, even in Canada, charging $4 for a newspaper. The Australian said it was too much and then the guy drops the price to $1, so he buys it. Then the seller says ' Ok, friend, thank you!' These people blatantly try to rip you off and then want to be your buddy!
I had the conductor on a bus overcharge me hugely ( but I bargained for a good price) and then he wanted to trade me sunglasses. Another guy offers me a cigarette after like we're buddies. You really have to see it as a game and have fun with it or else it will just get you upset and it's not worth it. I just stand my ground and end up usually walking away if I don't get the real price. They always chase me down and after time I get the real price, but it shouldn't be like this! It's tiring because you're always wondering where the next ripoff is going to be. Other than the people who are trying to get money from you, the regular folk of Vietnam are super friendly and they make up for the assholes!
Vietnam is a nation of smokers, well, at least the men are. Most of them smoke and will smoke anywhere, in restaurants, internet cafes, buses,etc. It's really annoying and can ruin a good place. One thing I do really like about Vietnam is that all businesses, hotels and restaurants are signposted with their address so you always know where you are and what street you're on. It makes navigating with a map easy. I haven't seen this yet but I have heard of copycat places here. A place that's not as good will take the exact name of another more popular place and try to pass itself off as this! So having the exact address of a place can be really important sometimes.