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Hoi An has been incredibly… it is known for its tailor shops which are everywhere you look and the town its self its beautiful, especially at night when the streets are lit up with lanterns! The beach here is really nice aswell!
On 2nd day we decided to head to the beach, while having lunch a lady named Lan came over to try and sell us some jewelry, she began chatting to us and teaching us about the Vietnamese culture. She said she earns 200,000 dong a week, which works out to be about 7pounds and she has a little boy called Full who is almost 2 years old, and a husband who was in hospital. We spoke for almost 2 hours and she ended up inviting us to her home for some food within the next few days. That night we met with her and she took us to a tailor shop where she worked when she was younger, she helped us get some tailored clothes for cheaper which was really sweet of her. Over the course of the next few days we met her son, and when her husband returned from the hospital we met him too. Their home is tiny, there are only two rooms and they sleep on the floor in the main room at night. It was very clean and well kept. For lunch they made us a type of Vietnamese soup which I kind of struggled with as I wasn't sure what it was made of and Lan didn't know the English for it. That night we decided to buy them pizza as they had never tried it before, it's too expensive for them usually, Lan wasn't keen and her husband wasn't in the slightest interested, although, Full was enjoying it more than myself and Lee. Over the last few days Lan has taught us so much, we learnt that school in Vietnam costs 15pounds a month which is WAY too expensive for Lan and her son may not end up going at all… school starts at the age of 6 here! And that tourist's get charged around 5 times the price of what the Vietnamese pay… I went with Lan to get my nails done and because she said she was paying they cost 30,000 dong… 1pound, if I was paying it would have probably be around 8pounds. Maybe one day we will return to Vietnam and see Lan again.
Over the last few weeks we have seen first hand how kind, caring and trustworthy the Vietnamese are. Of course, like anywhere, there are always a few horrible people, but everyone here seems to be generally very happy. Myself and lee didn't feel like we really saw 'The Land Of Smiles' in Thailand (except for when we accidently wondered into the 5 star resorts), but actually, we have found it here, in Vietnam.
Tomorrow we head to back Danang and for sure I think we can safely say we will miss Hoi An!!
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