Hoi An fans

Yet another buffet breakfast started a hectic day. With hotel guests of all persuasions buffeting against each other for the pick of the scrambled eggs and ever sparse freshly squeezed fruit juice, it's plainly obvious where the name of of this gourmet social concoction originated. We hopped on the first shuttle bus into town because the pressure of clothes fitting and the need for more haggling was weighing heavily upon us. Being in town so early was a revelation.

As it turns out, there are advantages in being the first customer of the day in these shops. If you're the the first purchaser then you make their day "lucky" and as such are the recipient of a huge discount. This pitch lasts until around midday when the whole place settles into a sort of paralysis where only the new arrivals in town could be bothered cruising the colorful streets... because they know no better. By this time we had managed to make a myriad of store owners "lucky" and had our pending wardrobes tweaked, prodded, adjusted, refitted, re-ordered, re-aligned, extra items added and delivery times re-scheduled. Ah..good old Hoi An, the town where the ceiling fans almost outnumber the tourists (and there are a LOT of tourists).... It would probably more economical for the government to put a really big wind farm at one end, switch it on reverse and have a gentle breeze waft over the place continuously.... Given the amount of trouble they've gone in building extensive bare-boned suburbs in the area nothing they do in the future would surprise. We headed back to the compound armed with a baguette from Cargo and quite happy in the knowledge that we had made so many store owners lucky. Another few lazy hours on the beach ensued. Today the ocean was very calm, which resulted in no wave dumpings (and subsequent injuries). This was made up, however, by managing to get lost in the cavernous halls of the compound on the way back to the room.The stress and confusion of so many floors and room doors that are all exactly the same (apart from the obvious number labeling them) was soon overcome by a jaunt across the road for a relaxing massage and manicure. We managed to make another owner lucky by being the very first customer in their spa as they had just opened this day. Relaxed and nicely calm we slipped-slided in our thongs back across the road, roughly navigated up the driveway, carefully maneuvered up the stairs, skidded down the endless hallways into our room to wash the oil off so we could walk properly for the rest of the evening.

Back into town for dinner, at this time of the day the place hums with activity. Ceiling fans are just one contributor to the maelstrom. The restaurant (Miss Ly) was highly recommended, the food was superb and the sound of breaking glasses followed by the ubiquitous shout of "Taxi" made one feel well and truly at home (aka - Aus.). Tomorrow we get up early to learn the fine art of Vietnamese cooking. The aim here is to learn "signature" dishes which will be henceforth inflicted on any guest that dares to come to our place for dinner in the ensuing decades. Photo's and accompany stories will be an integral component of the entree's .