I shop therefore I am

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Ripping through our cash at an alarming rate. Most of our money goes on food, but a growing amount is being diverted to feed the shopping habit we're both developing. Even Dan, who spends most of his life espousing monk-like values of spartan living has been shopping up a storm. His prize purchase is foulest pair of underpants imaginable - chocolate brown airtex horrors that induce him to dance around singing the lambada whenever he wears them. He thinks they are hilarious. I think they could lead to some sort of common law divorce.

It's hard not to shop when you sleep yards from one of the busiest shopping districts in Ha Noi. I am trying not to succumb but every two metres there's a silk shop or an ethnic bag shop or a man selling Chinese stamps on the roadside, and all for such little money... Dan spent 15 whole dollars on shoes today and I had to catch up (having only spent 5 dollars so far in Ha Noi on a fetching pair of fake Nike sports sandals) and bought a beautiful pleated silk skirt. I'm kidding myself that as everything is significantly cheaper here, I can legitimately spend a fortune on things i don't need. I was so proud that i managed to reduce my packing to the minimun and now I'm ruining this lean backpacker lifestyle with all the extra fripperies I'm collecting on the way.

Hoi An, pictured above, was the ultimate destination for all-consuming tourists. We've talked to so many people who have loved this coastal merchant town and it's a little jewel, preserve under the auspices of UNESCO's benificent World Heritage Site umbrella, but I suspect the endless opportunities for consumption of one kind or another go some way to making these happy memories. We arrived at 6am one rainy morning, and by 4pm we'd ordered four shirts and a pair of sandals, eaten three meals and had more beer than we've had in weeks. The following day was much the same. Other tourists staggered through the streets under the weight of their purchases, pursued by touts and street vendors, dizzy with the thrill of all this attention. I might try and take some photos of the Hoi An purchases (maybe not the brown underpants). We liked it so much, we even made a plan to come back for Dan's 40th and get married here. But don't get too excited. We were a little tipsy from afternoon drinking and had just clinched a particularly good deal at the market and were a little drunk with the excitement.