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Published: November 5th 2011
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Gazing out the coach window, each meter of landscape was capable of producing a stunning picturesque postcard, each perfectly captured within the large window frames. Crusing along the central east coast highway towards Hoi An; the view to the right - The Marble Mountains soar high over fresh water lakes dotted with fishermen aboard humble wooden boats casting nets. To the left, bountiful harvest crop fields, countryside and stunning views out to the ocean.
From the coach drop point off we each hopped on to our negotiated motorbike taxi's. Each backpack slotted nicely between the seat and handlebars and we reach our new home in record time. A new mode of transport to tick off the list; beats the usual rip-off taxi car ride...more dangerous for sure but so much more fun! We check into Southern Hotel, swiftly lay down the packs and quickly whip out the swim gear! I know I mention the heat in some form in every blog but this place was seriously blistering so the fact we had a snazzy little pool was luxury and all for six English pounds! Of the three nights we spent in Hoi An, each day was spent lazying round the
pools edge falling in every now and then for a refreshing dip and a few kiddie competitions; the kind that involve who can swim the longest under water, handstands and the like! I also purchased my first book here which was recommended by a friend to read before travelling Cambodia. It was called "First They Killed My Farther" - a first hand account of a little girls story whilst she and her family fought to stay alive during the Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime. It took me only two days to finish, I couldn't help but flip over each page to the next but It was so heart wrenching it had me in floods from start to finish! Scott thought at the time I was having a mid-twenties life crisis as tears rolled down my cheeks and even gasping to catch a non sobbing breath! Great book though so I'd recommend to anyone but certainly a must read to those visiting Cambodia.
It's here we meet numerous couples and families. Lynne & Magnus - Both retired from Lancashire and slowly making there way across Asia from China backpack stylee en route to New Zealand. By slowly I mean they
had been travelling for 18 months already and planed to take a good while longer in there mammoth adventure! Lynne could chit chat forever - I decided to swim a few lengths one afternoon and ended up clinging to the side of the pool for an hour when she caught me at the other end conversing about family, work, politics and a million other topics! We also met a family meeting there younger daughter whilst travelling who were all from Garforth of all places...for those not in the know this is only three miles from home! Finally this is where we met Faye & Andy. Faye from Oxford & Andy from Portsmouth, both Uni grads and travelling from Hong Kong to Singapore for four months. Because I'm writing this entry a few months after we initially met, we actually ended up travelling round and meeting up in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand & Malaysia so I can safely say these guys were great travelling buddies and super fun to be sharing such amazing adventures with.
If I were to describe Hoi An in one word it would be 'charming'. Antique shops, art galleries, craft stalls & café's all line the complicated
web of narrow cobbled lanes fanning outwards from the Thu Bon River. Each evening a rainbow effect of lanterns line the bridge whilst traditional candle lit origami offerings gently bob down river. Colourful buildings all preserved perfectly with a mixture of Japanese & European influence, each stand proud with age & confidence! By perfect, I mean cute & shabby. A few cracks here and there, paint flakes slowly peeling from weathered wooden window frames and cobbles wobbly and loose! This was a close contender for the No1 spot in our favourite town list to date! If it had a night market to match that in Luang Prabang, it would have most certainly stormed into first place. But each town has it's own style and we were completely smitten with Hoi An regardless. Sipping on an iced lemon tea late one afternoon inside a cafe with the best people watching seat in the house. School was out - children were hurriedly whizzing past on their over-sized bicycles, street hawker ladies settling down dumpling ladened bamboo poles ready to open up shop, cyclo drivers taking it easy trying to catch a few sneaky z'ds and gatherings of oldies playing draughts with used
bottle tops! All the while a bus load of tourists wearing matching t-shirts follow their guide who was holding a yellow flag, he would wave frantically to ensure he had the full troop in tow towards attractions close by, not realising they were part of mine.
Our hotel was a good sweaty walk from the hustle and bustle but luckily for us we grabbed the free hotel shuttle bus each day into town. Anyone who has been to Hoi An will know that it's well renowned for hundreds of tailor shops, each luring you in to quickly size you up for any shape, style and fabric custom made cloths. It would be rude to not take advantage of this so we purchased a few pieces after flicking through the heaps of fashion magazines and Next catalogues! To be fair they were worth what we paid, my all in one play-suit had one leg longer than other which took me a few weeks to realise but Scott's red chequered shorts seem to be wearing well. The girls in the shop had great fun sizing up Scott's inside leg, sticking there fingers in his mouth pointing out a fang and aptly
naming him Dracula!
Unfortunately we were unable to extend our stay at the hotel any longer and so had to move on. We decided on an overnight bus from here to Nha Trang which would be our next seaside destination. The journey was as expected, awful! The conductor guy pushed us onto the coach in a forceful hurry as it was late arriving and then proceeded to shout jibberish at us because he couldn't give us a nano second to take off our flip flops before boarding and subsequently must have tread a single speck of dust on his mat. I'm sure he copped a feel too as he made me sqeeze past him, bloody pervert! I instantly gave him the death stare and muttered a few profanities as I turned round only to be shoe-horned into the shit seats at the back just above the engine with the rest of the foreigners, we knew it was going to be a long hot sleepless night. A mosquito could have farted more of a breeze than the supposed air con...pffft! For me, I was awake at sunrise whilst we were winding through the mountains. Fiery orange and reds reflected off
each watery rice paddy, it was worth being up at the crack of dawn in the end, just incredible.
Chow for now peeps :-)
X x X
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