Hoi An

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Caught the train down from Danang to Hoi An, which was a very spectacular 2 1/2 hour trip down the coastline and then negotiated to share a taxi with a British guy on to Hoi An, which was 30km away.

The taxi driver tried to take us to a hotel which he obviously got commission for delivering guests to, and the British guy ended up staying there, but we decided to go to another hotel further down the road.

This hotel was meant to be US$20-30 per night, but as it was off-season we were able to get a room for only $14, very nice hotel with pool etc.

Spent the afternoon just cruising around the old city which is very quaint.

The next morning we went on a trip out to the My Son ruins, which is a group of temples dating back to the 8th century. It was ridiculously hot wandering around so we retired into the shade with an ice cream pretty quickly after having a look round. Got the bus back to Hoi An in the early afternoon and had a dip in the pool.

For the rest of the day we checked out some sights like the Japanese Bridge and found a really cool pub/restaurant called Mango Rooms with big bamboo couches, where we had a drink overlooking the river.

On Tuesday we decided we were ready to join the rat race of motorbikes, and hired one for the day. We cruised out to Hoi An beach for a few hours of relaxation (if it wasn't for the constant nagging of fruit sellers, masseuses and manicurists!) and swimming. We rode back to town and went on a tiki tour round the back blocks of Hoi An, where they obviously don't see many tourists as we seemed to be a bit of a novelty.

Dropped the bike back and went out for a very good dinner, we had a set menu where we each got a starter, two mains and a dessert for $4 each

Overall, really liked Hoi An and could have spent a lot of money buying things if we had room to carry them!

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