Hoi An

After the disastrous nite on the nite bus from Nha Trang we got to Hoi An. Not a real big place. Everything is within walking distance. It is an old trading city, with the modern claim to fame being a hotspot for tourists to buy custom made clothes, silk lanterns, silk "stuff", embroidery and so on. They also have cooking schools that we only got to see a little bit of, unfortunately.
The big draw for Mike and me was the early a.m. fish market and its photographic attractions. I had a ball down there for 3 mornings.
We bought all sorts of stuff. I have birthday presents, Xmas presents and wedding presents to get me thru the whole year of 2009. The recipients of those gifts will be reading this so I'll keep quiet about what I picked up.
I was told that the post office would supply boxes and tape and even box all your stuff up for you. That sounded fishy, but a trip to the PO confirmed that indeed this is the case.
As we were heading out the hotel to the PO w/ all this stuff the girl at the desk said,"Well, why don't you wait here. The post office will come here and box it all up for you." I rather unbelievingly said "OK" and within 5 min of her phone call two girls showed up with boxes and a scale. We filled out paperwork and paid $178.00. We finally figured out that it wasn't the post office who came to the hotel, but a packing service and we probably paid $50-$60 more than we would have at the PO. Oh well, live and learn and we didn't have to wait in line.
One thing I can tell you I bought was a silk embroidery "painting" It was pricey ($240.00) but just beautiful. I only paid a few dollars for silk lanterns that sell on the internet for $20 so I justified my extravagant purchase, thank you very much.