Hoi An: Days Three and Four

Day Three
My Son
After breakfast and some procrastination we rented another motorbike for the day. This time I scrutinized it much more heavily because we were about to go on a 55km trip and everything had to not only work but be comfortable. Destination: My Son, the ruins of a Hindu temple set in a tropical valley. Ruined even more in the seventies with the help of American bombers, but still an impressive site to see.
It was the longest trip I'd ever made on a motorbike thus far, but it went relatively smoothly, minus an awkward sunburn that made my arms red down to my knuckles, where my fingers were completely white from holding the handle bars. Not much to say about the site itself except to show some pictures:

[Note the Sanskrit on the left column and the linga in the middle]

[If my understanding of Hindu symbolism is correct, then I am a dick]

The site was rather small, but it took us a while to figure it out as we looked at the map in our guide book and tried to figure out where the rest of it was. Our timing getting there and leaving was exactly the same as a small group of French tourists. So much so, that when we left and decided to stop for lunch about 10km out we incidentally stopped in the same little pho place. As we were leaving lunch, we noticed some serious storm clouds coming our way, with another 40km or so to go. We hopped on the bike and decided to race the cloud back to town. Lucky for us the cloud wasn't bringing rain, but unlucky for us it brought wind. Strong wind. In a very dusty area. We only had one pair of sunglasses between us, which I had let Daphne wear, but it got to the point where I had to steal them from her. We felt it was in both our interests that I kept my eyes opened while I drove, Daphne hid her her head and closed her eyes. We made back alright, but I think I still have sand in pores even today.
That night, Daphne and I decided we were done with the tourist bar scene and opted instead for a romantic sit by the river. In one quiet spot on the 'Vietnamese' half of town, there were straw mats laid out with a foot high table in the middle. An old lady comes and brings out cane juice. That's it. That simple.

Day 4
Old Hoi An
We waited until half way into our trip to finally do a proper tour of the town. Since its pretty much about seeing and buying, I'll spare the history lesson. Suffice it to say that the Chinese influence here is[or was] big and the hotels and souvenir shops know it. Here are some pics, they'll do the talking:

Our last stop on the tour was really hard to find. After several hours in the heat already we circled the same block five times trying to find a craft warehouse to watch a music and dance performance. When we finally made it we only got to see five minutes of the show[which was only ten minutes long anyways]. After that I refused to ever step foot on that block again, deciding that in five times, I had seen more than enough of it.

Fine Dining
We picked a recommendation from Lonely Planet called Des Amis. Its the most expensive place there, which doesn't say much, and there's a set menu that changes every night, depending on what the cook feels like doing. It was four courses, and really good, but it had one fatal flaw that didn't rear its head until after the bill was paid. Cockroaches. They slowly started coming through a window that faced a dark alley, and was right between us and the stair case leading out. Did I mention they can fly? I've never seen a cockroach fly in the States, but these do. Flip flops went flying too, as we fought our way through. I'd never seen so many in one place. So, while the food was good, I would recommend taking an early dinner if you every plan to check this place out, unless you're going for dinner and a show.