Hoi An

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Hoi An is pretty much a half way mark on the east cost of Vietnam. It’s an extremely pretty town with a river that separates the old town section. The French colonial influence is highly apparent in the picturesque architecture and little crème coloured boutiques and cafes. On our first full day in Hoi An we hired a cyclo (bicycle taxi with a carriage for two at the front of it) and were peddled around the delightful old town. It was so relaxing to sit and absorb this old fashioned town within a more modern town, where the Vietnamese people carry out their traditions. We saw the familiar conical hats sported by women rowing their boats and some men working hard at building a fishing boat and drinking some fresh beer.

Apart from its aesthetical appeals, Hoi An is the shopping capital of Vietnam, being lined with tailors all competing at low costs to design and create you a suit, coat, dress or basically anything you could wish for! Bex thought she was in heaven! Obviously as the two of us are near due to return and embark on our careers, we did think it fitting to purchase a suit each and were whisked into a shop to take measurements. It was very exciting to have clothing made especially for you and even better that it was about a quarter of what you might pay in England! We collected them the next day and are thrilled that they fit so well. It did feel odd looking so smart after months of filthy smelly rags!!!

Our second day meant getting up at the crack of dawn to head out to My Son, the ancient architectural site and a world heritage site in Vietnam. We hired a motorbike for the 30km distance - again more like 60 and set off at 5.30am, as our guide book advised us to beat the bus hoards of tourists that arrive after 8am. Unfortunately our time at My Son was, quite literally, a wash out! It poured with rain so hard it was painful on our faces on the bike and we were soaked through by the time we arrived. As the weather was so bad, hardly anyone came to visit the site so we needn't have bothered getting up so early. The sight itself was good to see. It looked so weather-beaten and crumbled that it did have character. Unfortunately the great site of Angkor, perhaps a little unfairly, rendered this small disheveled site a little disappointing.

We raced back on our bike as we had a long-haul bus to Hanoi to catch at 2pm. As the rain was so bad, we completely missed the rather discrete turn off to Hoi An, following the signs to Hanoi some 1000km north! You can’t really blame us when the two names are tricky enough to decipher even without being blinded by rain! After a lot of attempting to ask for directions we eventually made it back to Hoi An and just about scrambled on to the bus in a pretty wet state!

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