Day 224: Army of Breakfast Cooks — Touring Old Hoi An — Lunch at the Beach
When we arrived last night our housekeeper, Ms Lam took our breakfast order and said she’d be back in the morning to prepare it for us. Wow — an unexpected perk of this house.
Ms Lam did come back in the morning — but she wasn’t alone.
I came back from a jog around 7:30 and there were four (!) women in the kitchen making breakfast. We had eggs, waffles, cereal, fresh juice and fresh fruit. They made us a Vietnamese coffee but noticed we weren’t loving it so Ms Lam made us gringos a couple Americanos.
Jan came by to pick us up at 9am for a couple hour tour through Old Hoi An, a beautifully preserved riverside UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a major trading port between the 15th and 19th centuries that now attracts a ton of tourists but somehow didn’t feel overrun. It’s known for its paper and fabric lanterns which are hung on all the buildings and across the roads. We’re planning on coming back at night at some point this week.
First stop was a little lantern shop where we could all make our own. There were two ladies there to help us — and they really preferred to do it for us than to watch us struggle. But the kids enjoyed picking their colors and applying the glue. We bought one from the store as well — who knows if we’ll see these in our future home but they were cheap enough to take a chance.
We then walked down into the middle of town. There are no cars allowed — only scooters in the outskirts and then only bicycles and foot traffic in the Old Quarter
(Quick backstory: en route from Ha Long Bay to Hoi An we sent our travel advisors a note saying that recent guides haven’t been tailoring their tours to the kids, and when the kids notice that this is only “grownup talk” they become bored and disruptive. Especially James. Especially when it’s a “feels like” temp of 110. We asked that the tours include the kids but also that we would be happy to cancel any tours that aren’t a good fit for a 7 and 5 year old.)
Anyway, back to Hoi An’s old town…
We visited a Japanese Covered Bridge, a temple and an old mansion. Jan moved pretty quickly and did his absolute best to keep the kids engaged. At one point Jan was explaining that in Vietnamese culture turtles represent longevity, dogs represent loyalty. Then he asked Willa and James what they thought monkeys represent?
James quickly answered: Bananas.
And this is as he was in a full banana themed outfit…. which by the way was joined by a baseball cap of the same pattern an hour later.
But despite Jan’s best effort, James was slowly losing his patience with the sweaty tour and pulled a temple sit-down in protest.
We were actually at the same temple when guide Jan got a call from his CEO of the local operator here in Vietnam. Clearly the emails had been forwarded along.
Things sped up even faster, and we all agreed to cancel the tour for tomorrow — giving us a totally free day.
We were back at the house by around 11:30 with absolutely zero plans until 9am the day after tomorrow. Great feeling.
We walked down to the beach for lunch at The DeckHouse. We got a table right on the edge of the balcony, drank cold beers, enjoyed the breeze and people watched Asian tourists taking repeated selfies for social media.
James was being a little terrorist. He improved slightly after getting food in his belly but continued to be a pain in the ass through the afternoon. I had the pleasure of trying to do home school with him which wasn’t fun.
We did a couple hours of work and then the kids hit the pool. Margaret made G&Ts, and we worked on our computers while the kids played. It was a fun, super chill evening. There may have even been a family skinny dipping situation after sunset.
I went back to The Driftwood for takeout Hawaiian pizza, pasta and a Greek salad while Margaret got the kids showered and into their PJs.
James had a few bites of his pizza, then walked over to the couch and passed out.
Willa called her buddy Ava and I checked in with my family in Annapolis.
After her call Willa came into my room to say high to LOBSY, BeePaw and the cousins and then promptly fell asleep.
