Our last day in Hoi An was rather uneventful, that is until we walked through the market…
We camped out for a bit in the morning drinking coffee and blogging, I caved and sprung for the “Buddha is my Om Boy” t-shirt I had had my eye on since we first walked past, we shot some video for Andrew’s project (soon to come on BeCarefulYourHead.com!) and then we walked through the market. On our way to the market, we were asked at least a dozen times if we wanted to go for a boat ride. One captain tried to persuade us by informing us that it was “Happy Hour” as if that should make us climb aboard! I responded, “If I wanted to be on a boat, don’t you think I would be on one by now?” He stared back at me blankly and said “Happy Hour?” again.
I was really fascinated by a wood carver who made faces out of what looked like tree roots. Clever. I watched outside, but didn’t go in for fear I would want to buy one (or three). Maybe next time… We strolled through the food stalls on our way back to our hotel to grab our bags for our overnight bus to Nha Trang and then heard some loud drumbeats coming from within the covered market building. We decided to investigate. What sounded like a militia drum, I expected an army, or something more… intimidating perhaps? Instead, we stumbled on of couple of boys pounding away at a drum and one magnificent dragon dancing in and out of the stalls. For what I’m assuming was for the Fall Harvest Holiday, known as chuseok in Korea, but known as what, in Vietnam, I’m not sure. The boys quickly surrounded us, and then asked for money when they were done. I put a few small Vietnamese bills in one of their hands and then the women of the market shooed them away.
As if crashing a Vietnamese wedding wasn’t enough of a reason to love traveling, stumbling upon a dragon parade seemed to drive the point home. It quite possibly became my favorite part of the trip in that instant. And I knew, obviously, I needed my own dragon.
