March 14 Hoi An

Katherine has joined us and the shopping is in full swing. Joan and Katherine are having clothes and shoes made to measure today. While they were shopping I took a ferry to an island where they specialize in boat building. The ferry ride was an adventure to watch - all the locals seemed to have motorbikes to load on. The loading was quick and dirty - run them up the plank and put them on the kickstand. If we ever hit a big wave I'm sure we would have lost all the motorbikes. Later I joined the shopping spree and am having 2 copies of my favourite bicycle shorts made. I hope they understand what I’m asking for. I gave them my best pair of bicycle shorts to use as a copy. After ordering 7 pairs of shoes and 12 articles of clothes we still had the afternoon. We did a walking tour of the old town. There are several heritage buildings from the 16th and 17th century open for viewing. The first one we chose we the Tran family chapel. It has been in the family for 8 generations and it seems the 8th generation is doing the tours today. The tour was exactly 1 room and then the 2 different sales rooms. All this after we paid admission. I was so impressed I bought two coins from the 13th century. They are genuine and only cost $8 for both coins.
Shopping and walking is such hard work we stopped early for happy hour. Here in Hoi An they serve a beer called fresh beer. (draught beer in Canada). There seems to be a price war on with all the locales advertising the beer for 30 to 45 cents per mug. The fairest thing to do is share my trade around.