Happy New Year!

1/1/13

GAG along with half the Western world was bleary eyed today. NYE was spent in the infamous "Why Not?" bar drinking concoctions out of small buckets and listening to SE Asia's awful rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

You may be seeing a theme emerging with a number of our posts on transport, but this was by far our worst journey yet. New Year's Day 2013 will truly be etched in our minds as the bus journey from hell. At first sight the bus on which we were making the 11 hour overnight journey to Hoi An looked positive. The bus had fully reclinable seat/beds and were split up by aisles either side.

Unfortunately we were placed at the back of the bus where there were 5 considerably smaller beds side by side. It was also not possible to sit up because there was another row of beds directly above. When lying down the clearance between face and the row above was an uncomfortable 10 inches. A few hours later GAG and the 2 Germans sharing the back row hell managed to get to sleep. This sleep lasted less than 30 minutes as we were abruptly awakened when the driver plowed into a pot holed road at high speed causing GAG to face plant into the seats above. Unfortunately we weren't knocked out from the event, so we had to endure the rest of the journey awake.

2/1/13

Suited and Booted (Flip Flopped)

We arrived early doors in Hoi An and booked ourselves into a guest house. First on the agenda was to visit a tailor, which Hoi An is renowned for. GAG had some ideas in mind and were recommended by the guest house owner to go to her "sisters" shops a couple of doors down (I use the word sister loosely as everyone in Vietnam seems related if its mutually beneficial somehow).

Nevertheless, we took the advice and went to the recommended tailors and gave them our ideas and they took our specifications including what seemed like an overly thorough inside leg measurement. We were told to return the next day, so we bottled up our excitement and left the ladies to do there best workmanship. The rest of the day was spent meandering though the beautiful streets of Hoi An.

3/1/13

Birthday Suit

Today was the day that we picked up our suits and also coincided with Greg A's birthday. The night before Greg R and Andy had scoured the streets of Hoi An looking for items to make Greg A's birthday one that he would simultaneously remember forever and also forget large chunks of. The first item was a delicious local spirit which was a bottle of rum containing a scorpion and a cobra pickled inside. Greg A grudgingly drank the spirit at breakfast and throughout the rest of the day as forfeits for the games Greg R and Andy had organised. 

11 am came around and we made our way to the tailors to pick up our suits so we could wear them during the day. We weren't disappointed  Words don't do these suits justice, but to summarise Andy has a suit with 4 distinct quarters of red and white floral patterns and Greg A and Greg R has some outrageous floral silk jackets and green silk trousers (see photos).

The suits were well received by travelers and locals alike and not 30 seconds went by without a small Asian lady saying "handsome man!" to us or someone asking for a photo. The adoration for our suits culminated later in the evening when we were walking into one of the bars and spontaneous applause started, people were shaking our hands and taking our photos. The suits acted as the perfect conversation starter and GAG had a fun filled night drinking with some Australians.

by AT