This was the view we had from our hotel breakfast table at our restaurant in Hoi An. Table with a view, huh? Our room was nothing special, but they had added newer parts that had this same view, for a higher price ,of course. In front of those rooms was a lovely vegetable garden where they picked fresh produce, and everything was labeled for us tourists.
All throughout Vietnam we have seen these beautiful yellow mums in all the markets. Everyone is buying large or small bunches to give as an offering to Buddha. Also, red an yellow flowers of all varieties are a common sight, as Tet, or Lunar New Year approaches. The
Yellow Mai flower is especially popular for Tet,and we have seen many miniature trees in stores, restaurants and courtyards. The Vietnamese love bonsai and topiary and you often see bonsai for sale along the roadsides.
This color is a bit washed out, but I loved the combination of lanterns that we saw when we stopped at a temple. It seemed deserted, but as soon as we pulled up on our motorscooter, out popped someone to show us around, for a small donation.
I took so many of these lantern shots that I cant' keep them straight!Jim waited patiently each time I saw another good lantern shop, or a photo that I had to have. Perhaps this is new, or maybe the same.
The first night we were in Hoi An, I spied this shoe shop across from where we had dinner. I was drawn to it like a bee to honey! These lanterns were my favorite of all I saw, and the owner of the shoe store had made them herself. I really wanted to bring all of these home, and she told me that I could go to her lantern factory to see more. Now I am kicking myself for not going to take a look. And I call myself a lantern sister!
Hoi An is a small city with a big reputation for custom tailoring and shoe making. So many tourists come here with the intention of having clothes made during their stay. I have all the silk outfits that I need (one) and since Jim is retired, he did not feel the need to have a custom suit made, no matter how inexpensive. But it was fun to browse the silk shops that line every street. Shoes can also be made to order, but every pair looked a bit off, and lacking arch support, which I definitely need. We enjoyed watching other foreigners looking and having fittings done, but were glad we had no spare room in the suitcase. It made resisting all that much easier.

I couldn't resist adding one more photo of Halong Bay. It's not hard to see from this sunset photo just how magical this place is at each time of day, from morning to night. I love being on the water, and sleeping on a boat is even better. It must come from the years we had a sailboat when I was growing up. I always felt very cozy on that boat at night, and at Halong bay we were surrounded by a little flotilla of boats, all lit from within. I would have to say that this is one of the best places I have been , and it ranked right up there with seeing the Taj Mahal. Halong Bay is in the running for one of the new Seven Wonders of The World, and I do think it belongs there, but of course that means more tourism coming to Vietnam.
Hoi An was our most recent stop along the "gringo trail" as we like to call it. You do tend to see the same travelers over and over on these kinds of trips. Sometimes that is nice, like when we ran into our friends from the train to Hue, Kent and Jude when we flew out of Hoi An together. These two ladies were selling little bird whistles made out of clay, which they would happily demonstrate for you if you showed the least bit of interest, or even if you merely walked by.
I love walking through the markets, as the food always looks so colorful, and that is where I tend to find my best photos of women doing their daily jobs. Their faces have so much character, but I have a hard time looking them right in the eye to take their photo. It seems too invasive. I guess I wouldn't make a good professional photographer!
Hoi An is a very charming town full of ancient buildings and it is a world heritage site because of this. We arrived at night and I was so charmed by the many many lanterns hanging all through town. I really wanted to scoop them all up to bring home, but we are trying to travel light and it is just not practical. Even so, the merchants continued to tell me how they could be collapsed to fit in a suitcase or mailing tube...I believe that there is such a tradition of lanterns here as there was a big Chinese and Japanese population and many of the ancient houses also have beautiful old lanterns inside. I just could not stop taking photos of the lanterns, so you will see more of them. They came in all shapes and sizes and one could even get them custom made.
Well, you already saw these, which now seem to be a pale imitation of the real thing.