Holding on to Hoi An
Sitting here in Singapore on a Sunday night and an old episode of No Reservations has got me thinking. It's the one where the show's host, Anthony Bourdain, is in central Vietnam experiencing Hoi An for the first time. He's eating banh mi at the local markets. He's walking the little pedestrian-only streets that weave between centuries-old shop houses. And he's discovering he likes it so much he wants to know if it's a place he could actually live for a while. Enter Ly Tran, wife of Duc Tran, owner of two of the best restaurants you'll find not just in Hoi An, but anywhere (if you ask me). She leads Anthony around the area on scooters, showing him housing options that run the gamut from bare-bones traditional to too-good-to-be-true. I start to reminisce because everything about the episode is so familiar, right down to Bourdain's lovely tour guide. Claire and I got to know Ly (and, of course, Duc) during our two years living in Vietnam. So much so that...