Hello! What's your name? Where you from? You buy something.

Departing Ho Chi Minh City with Pacific Airlines, we arrived at a smaller and quieter airport in DaNang, in central Vietnam. (As a side note, I am fascinated by the different behaviors of people in airports and airplanes. In India, people form lines before being asked to. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, even if there was no where to go. Row numbers aren't called, so it's a free-for-all. And on the planes, when we land, as soon as the plane stops, people jump out of their seats and start shoving again. Singapore there some chaos, but not as much, as people were relatively more patient. In Vietnam, however, the same phenomenon occurs. Fascinating. I digress.)

We had someone from our hotel, Thien Thanh, pick us up at the airport. We drove to a city just south of DaNang called Hoi An, where the "Old City" is deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were heartily welcomed at the hotel. For a whopping $18/night, we have two double beds (one for our backpacks which have exploded on the bed, and the other for us) and breakfast is included, and all the basic amenities - so much nicer than our hotel in Goa!

We followed the Lonely Planet's walking tour in the afternoon. For one ticket, you get to see about 5 sites or so. We chose mainly based on what we read in the LP for each of the sites. It's interesting - the LP talks about how Hoi An is a little more conservative than other parts of Vietnam, so dress accordingly. So I wore my longer skirt and my shawl around my shoulders, and Jeremy wore his long pants. However, we saw so many Westerners wearing tank tops and shorts. The local people definitely dress more conservatively than the locals in HCMC. I think it's unfortunate when people don't take the time to learn about where they are and what's culturally appropriate and what's not. Even the sites we entered in Hoi An ask you to wear "proper attire."

On our way back to the hotel I saw a manicure/pedicure place - I couldn't resist :) I had a french manicure done - all for $4 - and the quality was on par if not better than what I've had on the States - this may become a regular treat for me on this trip as I rarely will splurge for it back home. We crashed early under our mosquito netting (not necessary, but figured it couldn't hurt), and headed to My Son (pronounced Me Son), another UNESCO World Heritage Site (wonder how strict the criteria is?).

My Son has Hindu temples built by the Champa Kingdom between the 4th and 13th centuries, that were discovered in the jungle. Unfortunately, some of the larger sandstone temples were destroyed during the Vietnam war, but the brick ones have remained more intact. While incredibly hot to walk around (I'm dripping with sweat just sitting here typing), it was a great way to spend 1/2 the day.

We then headed back into the Old City and did a little shopping (correction - I did some shopping). I bought a couple flip flops and a couple silk lanterns - a specialty in this area (the laterns, not the flip flops). Actually, there are SO many tailors, it's ridiculous. I actually wish I had researched any outfits I wanted handmade, as I could get a summer dress for about $8 hand done. The annoying thing, though, is that someone will come up to you and try to start a conversation and then try to get you into their shop - Hello, where you from? instead of just jumping into the sales pitch. This happens every time we pass a tailor's shop, and there are multiple tailor shops on each block.

We're now using the free internet facilities in our hotel before heading to dinner. Ironically, we had Indian food for dinner last night - we actually had a meat dish though, which we stayed clear of in India. We've also been drinking a lot of pop (soda for all you east coasters). When we want a change from water, we don't have too many options - pop or beer, and many times we're not ready to be filled by the beer.

Tomorrow we hop on a bus for a 3 hour trip to Hue - you guessed it - housing another UNESCO site.