Spoiled Rotten!

Totally unacceptable, this pampering... Kara let me have a turn at the blog today. What a day - custom clothes made in a little shop in Hoi An (probably cheap, ordinarily, but I told her I want "the best damn shirts she's ever made"), lounging about the pool, massages and wine and now heading downtown for dinner at what I heard referred to this morning as "the best restaurant in Vietnam".  The folks at the hotel are quite concerned because we are going to miss the "dancing show" - the multi-colored paper lanterns are strung about the pool, the surf is roaring in and the staff is getting antsy.  Thankfully, we remain unaffected by the goings on in the world, but check in with BBC occasionally to see the happenings.   Hoi An is a lovely little town. It is mostly deprived of the endless motorbike traffic you find elsewhere so crossing the street can be done fairly mindlessly, and popping in to shops to see the local handicraft, art and knick knacks, crap of an endless variety, cobras bottled in whiskey, etc never seems to grow tiresome.  The louts are mostly held in check here as well, so bothersomes and apologies and no thank-you's are few.  The weather has turned warm and we truly feel like we're on vacation now - it's exactly what we'd hoped for.  The hotel is beautiful and the website doesn't do it justice.  The people are wonderful and everything is top-notch.  There is a series of stone canals running through the property through which Koi swim endlessly, and the pool is just a step up from the beach and 30 feet from the surf. Our very private suite is in another 30 feet and looks out over all. Dragon flies flirt about in the daytime and geckos climb the walls, inside and out.
Tomorrow we ride into the countryside to purchase food from a local market.  We'll take it to someone's home and they'll teach us to cook a few authentic Vietnamese dishes.  We've mastered the spring roll already, so I suspect the White Rose and something with Hoi An noodles will be part of the program.  Kara only hopes they'll teach her how to make Pho - which she intends to eat every day for the rest of her life.  We'll see.....