Things that made our eyebrows raise

Motorbikes are king

This wasn't entirely surprising as we knew there would be a lot of motorbikes but their complete disregard for all road rules and superiority complex made us wonder. Especially as I was often enmeshed in a group of motorbikes on my bicycle with a child on the back I felt the need to understand them better. Observing them closely in their natural habitat I was able to learn a few things. It is not all chaos. There are actually consistent things all motorbikes do - my favorite one being the way they turn left - swerve across the street into oncoming traffic, turn left into traffic, careen back to the correct side of the road. The other thing I learned is that despite some consistencies in their movement motorbikes are inconsistent and no rules apply. 

Early morning peace - no people no motorbikes

I would be king if only I had succeeded at the Zadie on my back pull up

If it's not tailor made its not Hoi An

Hoi an has a long history of international trade that both brought many exotic fabrics to their shores as well as made their silk well known. So, it is not unusual that Hoi An also has a long history of tailoring/seamstressing. In recent times, however this well known skill has gotten out of control. Hoi an has between two and seven hundred tailors. This likely is not counting all the homes that take in piecework. I have looked carefully at the clothes of our neighbors and can conclude that this sort of business is not supported entirely by the local population. In fact, I am not sure how that could be a demand for that many tailors in this small city and expect a tailoring implosion in the near future. We had a dress that needed repairs and decided we were in the perfect place to get it repaired. With options at every corner we found ourselves frozen with indecision. Luckily, our landlady made the decision for us though she let us know it would be a few days due to the high demand?!??

It won't be long before these ladies trade their fruit for garments

Abandoned parks

We have been enjoying our local abandoned park. It is just the right mix of overgrown and regal to make us return again and again. In the abandoned park are a couple of abandoned buildings. These are not normal abandoned buildings but buildings that were abandoned partway through construction. The girls, and many young Vietnamese men, love these buildings more than if they had been completed. We got to explore both the four floor windowless wonder and the basement without a building and observe the work of nature, and graffiti, slowly reclaiming the project. This abandoned park is right on the beach sandwiched between two fancy resorts. We desperately wanted to know why this project, on prime real estate, was abandoned and what it was intended to be. In fact, we would like to know why the entire park was abandoned mid thought…but we never will. 

View of park from top of abandoned building

Tova looking spooky underground

Nature taking over

Putting on a show

There are various cultural shows in Hoi An to teach foreigners about local history and culture. You might think these are excellent ways of making money off tourists and you would be right. However, our family has enjoyed every single show we have managed to see and been astounded by some. The small cultural show included in the old town ticket is something I expected little of but the girls sad mesmerized and insisted we go a second time. The water puppet show was entertaining and really it was also genius. How do they control the puppets so incredibly well using a basic bamboo rod underwater and synchronize with the whole team of puppeteers so precisely? I also took the older girls to a larger show on the history of Hoi An simply because our homeschool academy has really good filled trips and it was described to be similar to an Olympic opening ceremony in one review. And it was. Before the show were numerous pre shows all worth the admission ticket. The main show was in an outdoor auditorium seating 2000 people (unlike the Olympics there were nowhere near that many audience) and the show itself included a troop of 500 performers. I felt like royalty having that many talented performers there for my entertainment. The stage was a recreated version of Hoi An, the show was mesmerizing and had incredible light effects and huge props (think elephants, boats, and fake buildings). They had numerous dances which used the lake as a stage with dancers using lighting and hair and splashes to create things I didn’t know could happen with artificial ponds. Sophia probably could have watched the show another 30 times without getting bored. Given that we won’t be attending the Olympic opening ceremony I am glad I got to experience this show. 

pre show

A small fraction of the performance team