The Horror, The Horror...

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I was looking forward to awaking to what I'd been told would a spectacular coastal view as the train trundled at as leisurely 30-40mph towards Danang. It turned out, however, that our enjoyment of the remaining part of the journey would be dampened by yet more illness. Rach succumbed first, closely followed by me. The worst part, though, was having to use the unbelievably grim squat toilet in our carriage, with its urine-soaked floor. Having to use the thing while I was in that condition was possibly one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. The parting words of Kurtz from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness - or more appropriately from the Vietnam-based film adaptation Apocalypse Now - rang in my head. The Horror, The Horror...

The train finally pulled in to Danang, where we hoped we'd be quickly whisked to our hotel by the pick up we'd requested. It was a humid 35 degrees outside, and we both felt like ticking time bombs, so with no sign of the pick up after 15 minutes we gave up waiting and hailed on of the throng of cab drivers desperately, and rather loudly touting for our business.

The silver lining in a very cloudy situation was that our hotel, Thanh Van 2, was superb. The manager apologised profusely for the tardiness of the pick up driver, and swiftly took us to our modern, air conditioned double room with its giant bed. It seemed baffling as to how nice it could be for only $24 a night, but we were glad, as in our state we'd end up spending most of the day recuperating there.

We did at least perk up enough to wander into town and garner our first impressions of Hoi An. It's a beautiful town, with a blend of French colonial architecture and unmistakably Vietnamese elements - ornate lanterns, the 'thuck thuck thuck' sound of traditional sampan boats piloted by people in conical hats plying the river, and of course the ever present drone of four-stroke scooters. Despite feeling decidedly dicey, we could take solace in the fact that we'd made the right decision in choosing Hoi An as our longest stop of the trip.

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