Rainy day in Hoi An.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, Hoi An has a lovely old town.  They’ve really tried to preserve an atmosphere that makes you feel as though you could be back a hundred years.  Little store fronts, lanterns hanging across the road.  It’s gritty enough to feel authentic and not too contrived.  I tried to arrange a “cooking tour” this morning but got no where with the recommended outfit and after a certain amount of frustration, just hung up and called the outfit I did the street food tour with and booked something for tomorrow morning.  A friend of Sheri’s recommended meeting up with the owner of the Dingo Deli, so, I rented a bicycle and headed out there.  Gordon, originally from Canada and then Brisbane, has lived here for about 7 years and has a full deli set up with a bakery on top.  He’s doing a remodel, but it’s a big space and he even had GF bread.  Unfortunately not GF pizza, but it was nice to have a sandwich.  If you are a shopper, Hoi An would be paradise, and you could have a suit made or buy all kinds of handicrafts.  If my bag weren’t already over full I’d be tempted to get stuff.  Prices are very reasonable and also very flexible.  It interesting with Vietnam being a “communist” country how clearly the populace embrace free enterprise, work very hard and seem to prefer to be self employed.  I’ve run into few to no Americans the whole trip so far.  I suspect this is somewhat the reverse “Trump Slump.”  (USA as a destination for travel is seriously down since the new administration’s attempt at immigration policy.)  Will meet Gordon and some of his Aussie mates at the sports bar later and get further insights into expat life in Hoi An.