Hoi An is as pretty as we had hoped it would be

We were not disappointed in Hoi An. The little boutique hotel we had booked was lovely, with a huge and well-appointed suite.  The staff were very welcoming and helpful.  The city itself was filled with flowers, and there were beautiful lanterns everywhere.  

For our first full day here, we started out by visiting the tailor shop (another thing that is ubiquitous in Hoi An; tailor shops) next door to our hotel, where Randy ordered a couple of shirts. 

Then we were on a quest; I had found a place that supposedly had the best Vietnamese coffee.  The coffee at the our hotel was not good, so we thought we would seek out something better.  The place I found was named Phin Coffee.  We were walking there when we stumbled upon a golf cart type conveyance that offered us a ride around town for 300,000 dongs.  We opted for a ½ hour tour.  I don't know why, as we were paying for time, not distance, but he drove us around as fast as he could go, and stopped at what was supposedly a museum type house that was 250 years old.  The real purpose of the place was to sell tourists silver jewelry for what are probably inflated prices.  The result of which is that Randy now sports a pinky ring, and I have new earrings that are supposedly silver.  We will see. . .

Next, I asked him to drop us at this coffee shop.  Instead, he dropped us at another tourist trap, which is not apparent until you enter.  It is a silk weaving shop with aggressive sales people.  We dodged that one, and went on foot to try to find this coffee shop, which is quite hidden down a narrow winding alley.  When we arrived, we ended up at the establishment next door,  Avocado, which turned out to be a pretty little garden spot with delicious food.  Randy had a sandwich of marinated chicken, and I ended up with two dishes, a sour fruits salad and a chicken rice.  Superb.  Then we wandered back out of there, down the alley toward the river, when what to our wondering eyes should appear but a couple of rickshaws, which brought us back to our digs.  Later on we decided that we needed to go down to the Covered Japanese Bridge, where the main action seems to be.  There were thousands of people in the streets, and the most colorful, lovely display of quiet, paddled sampans on the river, with thousands of paper lanterns.  It was a sight to see, and we are happy that we found it.