Maths problems in Hoi An

Napoleon Dynamite: I don't even have any good skills.
Pedro: What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite: You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

This is as true today as the day it was first spoken.

I only have maths skills, which Napoleon doesn't mention above, as i think are kind of included in the computer hacking skills. Plus i don't really even have them anymore as i am on an extended holiday from working and i am getting older and my mind is disappearing very quickly. We needed some of my old maths problem solving skills in Hoi An.

Problem:

Young and cool couple (Livia and Tim) go to Hoi An to buy lots of cheap suits and other tailor-made things. They bought:

3 business suits with an extra pair of trousers for each suit
3 winter jackets (very warm and good ones)
1 dress
1 skirt
1 pair of sandles

...and it cost a total USD 400.

They sent it all home to Switzerland from Hoi An. All 18.5kgs of it and they sent it by airmail. (That's right Brigitte, 18.5kgs to pick up from the post office for us. Sorry! Thanks in advance)

Did they get a good deal if the postage cost $220?

Answer:

Very probably. At least we hope so.

In fact don't answer us if you think we paid too much.


Anyway, we look shit hot in all the new stuff we bought. We didn't want to send it home by ship as it might be too warm by the time it arrives for us to use any of it.

Hoi An is quite a famous place for buying tailor made clothes etc. We met someone earlier in the trip who told us she bought a European-Winter jacket here. We thought she was an idiot, but it seems we were wrong for once. This was the perfect place to get some great clothes. You could even buy fake Onitsuka Tigers.

In fact it was a great last place in Vietnam to spend our time and money.

The food was fantastic, probably the best in the whole trip. We ate things called White Rose. My favourite dish was squid stuffed with pork mince. So so good! I had to eat it on a few evenings too. Unfortunately a dish like this hangs around on your breath for the rest of the evening and most of the next day. Lucky Livia!

There was a beach only a 4km bike ride away. We both frantically tried to get rid of the last bits of un-tanned skin that we had. Mission Successful!

We could watch the sunset with a 20cent beer in hand. I could anyway and Livia could watch me.

The architecture is all French and it was surprisingly very nice. My only complaint today was that they built 50 tailor shops all in a row through the whole town. I felt this was not very clever. (For those who wanted more complaints about French Architecture, they can be found on my facebook page in the coming months).

Oh and lastly, the following situation happened to us almost every evening when we went for dinner:
We sit down in a local restaurant.
We order food and drinks.
Young waitress asks us the usual batch of questions; name, age etc...
Young waitress sits close to Livia and whilst looking in Livia's eyes, tells here that she is beautiful.

How does one react to this? Livia got very self-conscious and uncertain of how to reply, as you can guess. I thought it was quite funny to watch. Especially as it just kept happening day after day. So weird.

We had a top time in this town anyway.

Before that we visited a city not far to the north called 'Hue.' Another great town for food and fun.

The bus ride from Hoi An to Saigon was going to be an awesomely fun 24 hours. So for an extra $18 we took a flight again. We sat in the travel agency as the agent told us the prices. As she did, Livia and I both carefully looked at each other, hoping to hell that the other didn't want to save the cash and waste a day.

Such a good decision. Vietnam is just too big to see and do everything you want to do in only the one month they give you for a visa. Best not to waste the time on a silly bus ride.

Instead of sitting on the bus yesterday we visited the Cu Chi tunnels not far from Saigon for a little bit of Vietnamese history. This was one of the places of intense resistence of the Vietnamese against the Americans and the South Vietnamese Govt. There were over 200kms of tunnels built under ground by the resistence. We travelled through about 20ms before having had enough. Underground is not fun.

So, we are in Saigon now and have checked out of our last hotel here in SE Asia. It has been two whole months that we have been here now. While there are still good things ahead, it is a little sad to say goodbye to this part of the world. It is especially difficult to leave the humid tropical weather especially as there are Xmas decorations everywhere and carols are playing in almost every restaurant. It is a little bizarre. As an Aussie, i am quite used to having warm weather and Xmas occur together. However, when the locals wish you a Merry Christmas, they seem a little uncertain of themselves, as if it would be one of the first times they have said these words. This is a little bit special.

Tonight we fly to Syd-a-ney on a Jetstar flight. If all goes well with Jetstar, and they don't have another 6 hour delay, we will be in Sydney at about 1pm tomorrow. We are both really looking forward to seeing everyone there.

This will be the last blog post from me/Tim until we leave Syd-a-ney, as i don't think i will have any interesting impressions and my family and friends from Oz will be hanging out with us instead of reading the blog. So the gorgeous and eloquent Livia will be covering events in the Great Southern Land.

ciao ciao