Saga Holidays
Today I set off on foot to wander around the old town of Han oi. I walked around for about half an hour before working out that I actually should have a ticket yet nobody seemed to check. After buying the ticket I noticed that with the ticket you were allowed to visit certain sights around the town. Unfortunately non of them were that interesting, ceramics museum, a few old houses, not really my kind of thing. I decided to wander and see what I came across. The first place I stumbled upon was packed with a tour group of about 30, which made it pretty impossible to enjoy the place.
Theres no doubt Hoi An is a beautiful place, probably the nicest town in the whole of Vietnam. The downside is, this is no secret, especially to the middle-class older generation usually from Australia many of whom are 70+. I thought Vietnam would be a country where you could explore without coming across many package holiday tourists, but unfortunately it seems it's the new place to be. It might seem like I'm moaning about nothing but after being used to only seeing backpackers in small numbers (usually 2's) in most places suddenly finding a place which seems like a Saga package holiday destination came as a bit of a shock. There are definitely a lot more older tourist than backpackers in this town, hence the restaurants are a little more expensive in places.
As I sat in a restaurant on the river with their over inflated price, I watched as a group of motor taxi's attempted to get some business. As they asked 70+ year olds in vain whether they wanted a lift on the back of a motor taxi, I thought that maybe I should tell them that it's pretty unlikely that a motor taxi is going to be their favoured choice of transport.
In the restaurant I ordered a seafood dish of squid, pork and something else that I can't remember. As I'm sat enjoying a beer watching the tourists pass I'm also wandering why they isn't many people in the restaurant. Usually like most people I avoid restaurants that seem a little quiet but occasionally I give them the benefit of the doubt. As I approached the restaurant earlier to view the menu the waitress had suggested that I was "very handsome", what this had to do with choosing a particular restaurant I have no idea. I laughed at her suggestion and decided to eat at the restaurant anyway much to her apparent look of shock and surprise. The restaurant actually had very good decor and a nice view onto the river. As I sipped my beer watching the tourists pass I noticed in the corner of my eye a waitress, as I turned I spotted her conspicuously opening a small cupboard and sneaking out what looked like a can of tuna! It could have been a can of some other meat, but hardly fresh like it should have been. This kind of put me off the meal thinking perhaps it'd come from the can rather than straight out of the ocean, but I couldn't quite pinpoint where the meat from the can was used in the dish. To my surprise my food was actually quite good so I couldn't really complain.
I think at this point I'm becoming slightly weary of Asia and all the hassle of people selling or seeing you as a way to make more money. I think getting down to the islands and beaches of Thailand with do me good and give me a rest from all the hassles of towns and cities. Unfortunately the next two stops are Hanoi and Bangkok, hopefully I can keep it together until I reach the beach.
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