Hoi An (Feb 2008)

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We took an overnight bus ride from Nha Trang to Hoi An and found a really cute guest house on the river. Hoi An is really pretty, lots of cobbled streets full of tailor shops, restaurants and some lovely french patisserie shops selling gorgeous cakes. The town really reminded me of China, especially as it was Tet (New Year) so the place was decorated with lots of Chinese dragons and latterns.

On our first day we bumped into the Irish girls we met on the Mekong Delta boat tour and spent the afternoon in the french cafe with them which was really cool. Funny how girls can spend hours eating cakes and chatting away! Then we had a stroll around town looking at the sights. The art work is really nice here, there are loads of shops selling work by local artists and some of it is fantastic. I was really tempted by a lacquer picture but the starting price was $200 and it was really heavy so probably not the best thing to be karting around in my backpack.

Our second day was New Year's Eve and we had arranged to meet Le and Mau, two Vietnamese people, for drinks and celebrations in the afternoon. We had a really nice afternoon with them and then went back to Mau's home for dinner. It was really funny because as soon as we got back there they got out the karaoke and started singing away! They were both really good. We tried to explain that the English didn't usually go near karaoke unless they'd had a few beers but they really wanted us to sing. Fortunately for us there were no english songs apart from Jingle Bells so we managed to escape the embarassment - neither Lou or I can sing! So we had a really lovely dinner with them and then headed back into town to meet Steve for the evening. Steve's a really great guy from England who we'd met earlier that day and arranged to celebrate the new year with.

We watched lots of Vietnamese dancing and singing by the river and then the longest firework display ever - it was great, went on for ages, with a commentator announcing how many dollars local businesses had contributed(?) First New Year's when I was actually sober at midnight! Lou and I said night to the others and then headed to the bars for some strong cocktails.

Our last day was a lazy one, strolled around town with Steve, stopping for lots of coffees and chats, had a really good day with him.

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