I've made it to the third stop on my improvised itinerary: Hoi An. It sounds remarkably similar to Hanoi but in reality it's very different. A little tourist enclave about half way down the coast of Vietnam, Hoi An is the land of a thousand tailors. The catch phrase here is 'Same Same but Different'. The implication being that you can buy the same array of tailored clothing as other stores but there is something which makes this particular establishment unique. Of course, after some comparison shopping, I've discovered it's hard to find much difference; just a lot of 'same sameness'. In such cases its always best to defer to the bible, Lonely Planet that is. I found the place they recommended, grabbed a seat, and opened the catalogues. I had a pretty good idea what I was looking for and within a few minutes I had a coat, two pairs of trousers and three shirts picked out. I was all measured up and told to return tomorrow at 4:00pm. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

With that task accomplished and plenty of time to kill I strolled around Hoi An's busy waterfront and market. One of the few places in this area to have been spared by the war, Hoi An provides some really well preserved examples of old French and Vietnamese architecture you might not easily find elsewhere. Plenty of bars and restaurants full of foreigners line the main street and back alleys. Besides these, and of course the tailors, there are plenty of funky little art galleries and bookshops. Thankfully absent are the insane traffic and crowds of Hanoi. This is definately a nice place to chill out and do a little (or a lot of) shopping. As with most cities or towns in Vietnam, it is also spread along the edge of river.

I took the first one hour boat ride offered and settled on a price of 20,000 dong (just over a US dollar). A woman of about 60 rowed me down the river and around Hoi An islet in her modest wooden vessel. In decent English she told me about the ship building yards visible on the banks and explained that all Vietnamese boats have eyes painted at the front (even our own leaky, little craft) for good luck. She was a little surprised to hear that Canadian boats don't share this feature.

Basking in the late afternoon sunshine and taking plenty of pictures, I was enjoying the experience until.... I spotted a gang of river pirates at 12 o'clock preparing to board us. Actually it was just a boatful of young girls being rowed about by their father and, big surprise, they had plenty of cheap trinkets to sell. It's easy enough to avoid vendors when you're walking down the street, but it's quite a different story in the middle of a river. I could see my guide was going to be of no assistance. I quickly realized this was all part of the trip. The only thing worth getting was some Vietnamese Tiger Balm (which is actually quite effective on mosquito bites). So I lowballed them down to a dollar and they went in search of their next victim. As their boat was pulling away I figured I'd take their picture as a memento of the experience. As soon as they saw the camera come out they quickly informed me that pictures would cost 10,000 dong. "I'll give you 1000 or forget about it," I countered. They settled on that but the moment I snapped the photo the next thing I heard was "5000 dong, 1000 dong each person." They had a good ploy going but I wasn't falling for it. Begrudingly they took 1000 dong and sailed off for good. In some ways it's humourous to see such cunning in children so young, but in other ways it's quite sad.

After the unexpected visit from the floating vendors, I had lost some faith in my guide. Not surprisingly, when we returned to shore, our verbal agreement had gone out the door and the price had doubled. I had no intentions of paying more than the agreed 20,000 dong, but I was relieved when another couple of travellers showed up looking for a boat ride. It doesn't look good to potential customers if your last one is complaining about the unexpected jump in price.

After that I haven't done much. The pace is very leisurely here and I'm just trying to enjoy it before I make my way to Saigon. After dinner, I picked up a couple of books and an interesting painting depicting life in Vietnam in bright, bold colors. I'm sharing a hotel room with a German guy named Jochen for $3 US a night. Tomorrow morning I'll probably give in to the entreaties of the women across from my hotel and rent a motorbike from them. It's only two bucks for the whole day and the beach is 4km away so I figure it's worth it. I better check my insurance coverage tonight.