Tailors, Meeting Halls and Chavs
Having decided what we wanted and having looked at coat/jacket styles on the internet we headed back to the tailors to get a suit and a coat/jacket each and Martin also got a pair of security shorts! But then has the combination of zips and flaps ever stopped a prostitute getting into a man's shorts?! The tailor girls were massive flirts and having got our room number so we could be contacted about the suits we were promised a midnight rendezvous! Haha!!
We went to wander some more of the halls in Hoi An, firstly heading into Phuc Kien Assembly Hall - with its quiet patio retreat outside, blissfully free of the noise of motorbike horns. Inside it featured a 200 year old papier mache figurine of "Thien Hau, goddess of the sea flanked by her green-faced and red-faced assitants who between them can head any ship in distress over a range of 1000 miles". A mean feat for a couple fo statues! Huge josstick coils hanging from the ceiling kept the place smelling nice.
On the way out some random Vietnamese lady who we'd asked to take our photo decided she wanted to be hugged by us in one of hers!
The Museum of Trade Ceramics documented how far trade from Hoi An went during the 16th Century - amazingly as far as Africa and Europe! It also told us about the watchful eyes installed in houses and painted on the front of boats. The philosophy seemed to be that if they can't see then how can they be safe? Fair point.
We had a brief guided tour of the spectacular Old House of Tan Ky, which had only just recovered from the flood the typhoon brought in its wake. The house was a mixture of Japanese (3 cross beams supporting the roof) and Chinese (5 beams running the length of the roof) and Vietnamese (er - somewhere!) styles.
For dinner that evening we foudn ourselves a balcony spot in a riverside restaurant for dinner and got two free beers just for going in due to our residual charm! THe highlight of the entire meal was watching two chavs trying to park their motorcycles on the pavement outside. The first one managed OK, but the second one had stopped his too close to the kerb so he really had to gun it to get it up the kerb. The front wheel went up, but then the back got stuck at the same point. No problem - just throttle it even more. As commanded the bike launched forward. It took the pavement in one easy leap and then bounded off the other side, through the air and ditched said chav burberry cap and girlie scream thrown in, straight into the waiting river!
The whole street errupted with locals rushing to help and westerners in hysterics or taking photos. Personally I though both were obligatory! Some local guy, probably the owner, dived in and heaved it out with the help of a few others. Young chav paid up for the diver and probably the required servicing of the bike and scarpered very quickly...blatantly trying to save face and avoid looking too cool with his new wet-look clothing!
We went to wander some more of the halls in Hoi An, firstly heading into Phuc Kien Assembly Hall - with its quiet patio retreat outside, blissfully free of the noise of motorbike horns. Inside it featured a 200 year old papier mache figurine of "Thien Hau, goddess of the sea flanked by her green-faced and red-faced assitants who between them can head any ship in distress over a range of 1000 miles". A mean feat for a couple fo statues! Huge josstick coils hanging from the ceiling kept the place smelling nice.
On the way out some random Vietnamese lady who we'd asked to take our photo decided she wanted to be hugged by us in one of hers!
The Museum of Trade Ceramics documented how far trade from Hoi An went during the 16th Century - amazingly as far as Africa and Europe! It also told us about the watchful eyes installed in houses and painted on the front of boats. The philosophy seemed to be that if they can't see then how can they be safe? Fair point.
We had a brief guided tour of the spectacular Old House of Tan Ky, which had only just recovered from the flood the typhoon brought in its wake. The house was a mixture of Japanese (3 cross beams supporting the roof) and Chinese (5 beams running the length of the roof) and Vietnamese (er - somewhere!) styles.
For dinner that evening we foudn ourselves a balcony spot in a riverside restaurant for dinner and got two free beers just for going in due to our residual charm! THe highlight of the entire meal was watching two chavs trying to park their motorcycles on the pavement outside. The first one managed OK, but the second one had stopped his too close to the kerb so he really had to gun it to get it up the kerb. The front wheel went up, but then the back got stuck at the same point. No problem - just throttle it even more. As commanded the bike launched forward. It took the pavement in one easy leap and then bounded off the other side, through the air and ditched said chav burberry cap and girlie scream thrown in, straight into the waiting river!
The whole street errupted with locals rushing to help and westerners in hysterics or taking photos. Personally I though both were obligatory! Some local guy, probably the owner, dived in and heaved it out with the help of a few others. Young chav paid up for the diver and probably the required servicing of the bike and scarpered very quickly...blatantly trying to save face and avoid looking too cool with his new wet-look clothing!
Labels: Vietnam
posted by Ian Matthias at
10/15/2006 03:51:00 pm
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