The tailoring capital of the world.

The bridge which Michael Caine walks over when Brendan Frasier gets killed in 'The Quiet American'.
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After the most annoying overnight bus ride with, yes, TM Brothers (they turned on the lights and put on music at 2am in the morning), we arrived in Hoi An.  Hoi An was beautiful, full of French Colonial and ancient Vietnamese architecture.  In Hoi An we found where all the scenes of 'The Quiet American' had been filmed at. 

We headed down to the cloth market to get some clothes made.  James got a cashmere suit, a wool full length coat and a shirt, and I got a wool coat, pants and a top made, for $150 US.  We haggled to get that price and we left feeling badly done by, but the seamstress was dirty at us as well, so we took that as a good sign.  On the way back, James was asked to be in a movie they were filming at the time.  He was asked to be a 1922 French officer from 6am till 6pm every day for 3 days.   Unfortunately that left him no time to see the ruins at My Son, so he declined.  Met a few people at Tam Tams for a few games of pool and beer!

James was asked to be in a movie

Typical Vietnamese street scene.
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Went for fittings, looked at a couple of the historic sites and then headed to a cooking class where we learned to make Grilled Ocean Fish in Banana Leaves, Spring Rolls and Squid Salad.  Then we got to eat what we made, and also try some local delicacies.  There are 3 dishes that are only able to be eaten in Hoi An.  Cao Lau - grill pork in a noodle broth with bean sprouts and croutons, can only be made in Hoi An because the water to make the broth needs to come from a certain well.  White Rose is steamed rice paper filled with pork, the rice paper folded to look like roses.  And Fried Wantons which are fried wantons.  Topped with shrimp and coriander and stuff.  The White Rise and Fried Wantons are a secret recipe known by only one family in Hoi An.  The family provides every restaurant with them, and are very rich because of this.  The recipes come from the 1500's when the King of Vietnam resided in Hoi An and requested 50 different dishes be served to him every night. 

Champan ruins.
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Next day we went to see the Champan temple ruins at My Son.  Crap tour, the guide dropped us off at the ruins and then told us to meet back at the bus at 12.  So we didn't get any history but there was some good traditional dancing at the Recreation Hall thing there.  Headed back to Hoi An on a boat which was part of the tour.  They served us lunch, the grossest fried rice and bananas ever.  2 people didn't get to eat (and we were all starving by that time!) because the guide had lost their tickets so they couldn't prove that they should be on the tour.  Last lunch at the Cargo Club (lasagne) and then headed to...

Hanoi.