Hoi An

One of the most popular sites to see in Hoi An is the old Japanese bridge.

But with no English signage, only a discerning eye can pick out Vietnamese Santa. 

Lots of sites do have signs in English. And some shops even have English names.

We had the veggie version of the local noodle dish, cao lao. 

Delicious. Ali also had "the white rose" at a couple restaurants which was wonton that had dressed up as a ravioli for Halloween. 

Here's the view of a farm across the river from our hotel.

And some fishermen.

And here are some fish traps just upstream towards town. 

As luck would have it we arrived the night before the full moon, which is a festive night for lighting floating lanterns in the river. Most of the shops on the river in town turn down or turn off their normal lights. I forgot to make a wish but Ali nailed it.

It was pretty magical, in someways kinda like lighting trash on fire and throwing it in a river, but also totally different.

We walked along the river and found a traditional game played at this festival. It's something like musical bingo http://youtu.be/qUH1E7PGgUo

 But the real lesson on Vietnamese culture came from trying to buy the lanterns. A little girl, maybe 6 years old tried to sell a lantern to me for 20k Dong. I said 10k, the going rate.

"Ok,ok" I reach toward my pocket. "50!"

"50?! No 10"

"Ok, ok" back towards the pocket. "30!"

"No I'm going to buy one down there."

"20!"

"That's where we started!"

"ok 10"

It didn't end there but you get the idea. Ali was later short changed by a 105 year old looking lady who then shooed her away. 

Vietnam and especially Hoi An have been the worst for price changes, over charges, short change, and general dishonesty and scams. We've been told it is generally worse as you go north. I'm not sure selling one's integrity for a nickel was the intended communist utopia. This is most likely a few bad apples giving everyone a bad name. I have accidentally tried to over pay for items only to be corrected by vendors. I gave one street vendor two 20ks for a 5k snack and she told me so. 5k is about a quarter. 

Anyway, to get back to our happy place we visited Santa again. This time there was a Vietnamese piñata game set up. For a quarter, you can get blind folded with a stick three meters from a hanging clay pot. Break it in one swing to win. Good way to lose a quarter. Unless you remember how MJ did it. Stare at it, close your eyes but keep staring at it and http://youtu.be/JdH3vRSU870.

"What did I win?!"

Why yes, I believe that is a Xmas tree ornament won right next to Vietnamese Santa.