Hoi An - Wedding Anniversary
Today is our 25th wedding anniversary and, to celebrate, this masterpiece was prepared for us: -
Jim caught the two girls in the act of preparing the message and they were writing "Happy Holymoon".
They didn't speak a word of English, so he wrote down the word "Anniversary" and they painstakingly copied it in petals.
Today was such a hot humid day, we didn't venture out anywhere during the morning and had a light lunch by the pool.
A storm came up during the early afternoon and within a short time, we were inundated with torrential rain for an hour or so. The air cleared only a little and it was hot and sticky when the storm eventually passed, but at least it was better than during the day.
For a special anniversary dinner, we decided to visit Brother's Cafe - a slightly posh-ish restaurant on the other side of town. As the weather had improved, we decided to walk - and allowed ourselves half an hour to do so.
We set off well enough but after trudging along for a while, came to the Central Market. It looked a bit dark and fearsome, but we strode through with confidence and purpose. The Central Market is the main food market of Hoi An and was full of the most confronting smells I have ever come across. We passed unidentifiable things in street corners and strange puddles which we had to jump over. I began to wonder what kind of place we were going to and would possibly have turned back - if the restaurant hadn't been my idea.
Just when we reached our tolerance limits, we came to the far side of the market into wider and more well-lit streets. Everything still seemed dingy and disreputable - but at least it smelled better.
In a few minutes, we arrived at Brother's Cafe and walked in to a veritable oasis. The tables were in a garden setting by the river and it felt like we were in the grounds of an Italian monastery or something similar - complete with bridge.
We had a lovely meal, served by a most efficient and ruthless waitress, and looked out at a boat of Buddhist monks setting thousands of lighted candles onto the water - which was quite beautiful.
On our way back home, we skirted around the market - and arrived back at the resort without further incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment