Lots of laughter today in the Hoi An countryside
9.3.23
Crambled eggs for breakfast, fried for Lauren and noodles for John, with no rush to eat the prawn.
We decided on a chill morning, and played Phase 10 for a while.
John took the laundry while Lauren and I visited a coffee shop we’ve passed so many times.
The service was incredibly slow, just one lady working, and assume it was her husband sprawled on the sofa scrolling on his phone laughing to himself.
The longer we sat the more washing up we spotted around the place, even in the flower beds!
Eventually we got a very good coconut coffee and an iced chocolate Milo.. Omg, millions of calories but delicious and worth the wait.
Laundry man reappeared and we then had the long wait for his pineapple sparkle, and another wait when he had a second one.
It was soon time to get back to be picked up for our countryside experience.
No Noddy Car today, a normal car but we did have the fabulous Hai as our guide again.
It was a short drive to pottery village.
At around 4am the clay is dredged from the nearby river.
We had a brief demonstration from a local woman, where we held the clay as suggested by her.
It was a stretch of the imagination to say we made the pots although our treasures were presented to us as our own creations.
Hai kindly held on to them in a box for the rest of our day.
Then of course we were encouraged to purchase some items.
We bought a mug, some satay sauce dishes and a garden ornament. Lauren bought a beautiful noodle soup dish with a hole to put the chopsticks, a matching plate and spoons. It looks too nice to use.
Hai gave us all a small animal for our birth years.
A buffalo for me, a cat for Lauren and a goat for John. A really nice touch.
The rest of the village was fascinating, seeing all the things they make, not only for tourists, lots of clay pots and bricks.
The only thing that spoilt it was the cages around the back with fighting cocks. Hai said it’s very popular, illegal, but only stopped IF the police come.
Another short drive, this time to vegetable village.
200 people work at this large area. I wondered if they were like allotments but it’s government land, the people are employed and buyers go direct there for fresh purchases.
It was incredibly neat and well kept.
A man who I assumed was in his 80s, but is 3 years older than me, gave us a demonstration of how to prepare the beds for the young plants. We all had a go with the ridiculously heavy tools.
We planted spinach, then had to water some beds with a crazy heavy metal bar with 2 watering cans attached. I filled mine too much and couldn’t stand back up. The older but a million times fitter man had to help the poor old dear.
Hai kept forgetting Johns name, but then sang a song which weve never heard before. It became hilarious.
Next we met a man with a water buffalo that he clearly adores.
Lauren and John were brave enough to ride him, they recommended I only sat on him as it was very, very wobbly.
Then we all fed him some greenery.
The guy then gave him some with muddy, not ready rice at the end and he chewed down to the muddy bit, bit that off and left it on the ground.
He was gorgeous, I struggled to tear myself away.
We then had a Vietnamese meal, it was at the same place as we did the cookery class and was delicious.
We asked to be dropped off at the dress shop rather than the hotel.
Laurens green dress was gorgeous, the other had the slit on the side seam instead of level with her knees and had to be redone as it just didn’t look right.
My wrap around was x rated around the bust, so marked with chalk to have a popper. It might have been quite sexy 30 years ago.
My simple copy dresses were fab, I’m really happy with them.
Lauren took a pair of her favourite trousers in to be copied, they’ll be ready tomorrow. The more we look the more we want!
Time for a Grab taxi, ice cream and more card playing. This time I was the arsehole.
Another brilliant day had by all of us.
Hoi An was great 9 years but has even more adventures now, but not tacky.
Talking of tacky, tomorrow we’re going to Ba Na Hills and are a little concerned it might be dreadful…
