Month: April 2019

Dong Xuan market was cool, this is were a lot of locals shop and there was no nagging shopkeepers. But on the other hand, they did not speak much english. We looked around for a bit and I bought a couple jars of nailpolish. I did’t discuss prize for they cost almost nothing (10000 VND). But if I wanted to I think it would have been hard for the shopkeeper didn’t say anything english.

I think I enjoyed it more than Trond, who has a limited patience for shop browsing.

We have come to the conclusion that we brought along a bit to much luggage – that combined with me buying lots of pants (if you haggel, you come down to a price you like and ghen add inn more for extra discount…I know, I have an issue)

Blazing fucking hot and humid – my lord. I was just over 1 km walk, but I did have a 14kg backpack. When we got there and found all the ATM’ out of order – having to walk 20 minutes more to a lux hotell with fancy ATM…aargh, we had an issu, cause there is lots of paperwork. And Im actually dripping.. Im also leftha ded so when moving mu hand across the paprer – writing my name and local address 5(!!) times.. the paper got soggy and I had to start again. Ah! happy days !

All done ! They where very helpufull here, got us a box for packing.. tape.. help with forms.

We sent 16 kg, by cheapest fare.. Sea.. So the box is due in Oslo around June – that’ll be pretty exciting to see if it actually shows up 🙂

16kg was 2.460.000 Dongs in total for shipping to Norway… aprox 880 NOK

.. all of my jeans and my only summer jackiet is in that box. I should have kept one jeans back probably 🙂

So we just checked into our AirBnB in Hanoi Old Quarter. Looks like a actionpacked place.

Taxi was 400 dongs and aprix 30-40 minutes, we had gotten pretty decent explanations on how to get there.. drive to nr 70 – use the ally next to the bambooshop.. three floors up. Key box !

As with lots of places in Vietnam – exterior is a bit daunting.

I should have gotten a picture of the alley from the main street to – but we just hurried our way trough – it was one person at a time.

It does look a bit dodgy, I have to admit – we where nevertheless sure we where on the right way. Small signs had been painted on the freshy washed stairs.

After three flights of stairs (its called flights? yeah?) im humidity close to 90% and temperatures closing in on 60c’s I was at the top! hallelujah! Looking down I felt reassured to not end up in a nasty accident – safty nets where set up.. phew!

Looks a bit… gloomy 🙂

Keys in the keybox, now – lets enter and see what we got. (allways a bit exciting!)

Absolutley spotless ! Perfect – two ac’s, tv, fridge.. clean and nice. Freshly painted walls and a super comfy sofa. Absolutley perfect for a 5 day stay!

It even has a balcony that overlooks the street. Supernice for book&beer!

Great stuff – now, time to hunt down a cold one and some food !

Books are not that easy to get hold of in south east Asia, most people will also tell you that there are probably only 4-5 decent bookshops in the whole of Vietnam.

Walking the streets here, you really dont se a loot of books – and just a very limited selection of newspapers. There are a lot written and discussed about this, but in general – Vietnameese do not read a lot of books at all.. at least very limited. Reasons for this is probably many, but suggestion that the introduction of smartphones and ipad’s from year 2 – combined with a pretty broad selection of tv entertainment, seems to be the standard explenation. I read somewhere that it might be due to the fact that its not anything interesting to read…. well.

So, anyways, enter Randy’s Book Exchange! (retired American – Im at least pretty sure he is American)

Tucked away on a small road, just a few minutes walk from the main touristy area of Hoi An. After retireing, from whatever he did before – he didnt tell, but then again – I didn’t ask., he set up shop in Hoi An. Selling mostly used paperbacks, lots of english – I saw some swedish, Probably a few other languages to!

When entering the very nice kept house, you are at once aware that you are in both a home and a shop. Not that you feel like intruding or anything, there is a nice book-store vibe to the whole place. And as the sign reads, they are open – but keeping books dry and clean on a tropical island is not easy peasy.

Its organized and neat, different sections of crime, biographies, an excelent scifi selection and your classics.. etc. Do expect to find some photocopy books here to – buy them if you like, I personally dont have an issue with those books.

Two floors of books, the second floor holds a lot of english, and you should be able to find something. Its allways nice to spend a few dollars on places like this, we need to keep them in business – or soon there will not be any bookshops in Hoi An at all.

Also, you get a nice souvenier to bring home with you. So when you dig it out again after a few years, you can go “..aah thats right, I got this one in Hoi An – at a cool little bookshop”… wonder if that place still is around??

🙂

( 97 Lương Như Bích, Cẩm Nam, Hội An, Quảng Nam 00055, Vietnam )

Randy’s Book Exchange

So I came back to the tailor today – and its done.

100$ – not to bad, considering it is a totaly one of a kind. I got all the pockets and clips I wanted. A bit wider and deeper than the one I have and a long shoulder strap.

I had em use the strongest zipper they got and the clips for the front flap I cut off my old bag for use on the new – since they only had plastic ones.

And I got the wider sidepocket with velcroe – so now bot batterypack and cellphone has room. Waterproof innside pocket for passport n stuff.. yeah – I like it !

It is quite a bit bigger than my old one, and a bit heavyer – but not a lot. The main issue with the new bag is that it is not properly used yet… some wear and tear will probably soften it up a bit.

Some haggeling took place, and after checking a bit online and asking other shops I think I got a pretty OK deal.

Since evening is the best time of day to spend outside walking (because of the heat). The night market is full of people. We started a bit early, but later on it was packed. Here you can find almost anything. Eat almost anything. And take a romantic boat ride 💖

Vietnam speciality. or at least I have been told so. Its pretty much eggnog with coffe – more nog than coffe, but still, very very tasty 😀