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Published: June 23rd 2010
We are now in Hoi An which is about half way down our journey through Vietnam and I am currently writing this from our gorgeous hotel (with a pool!!) which is only costing us $13 a night. Vietnam is getting cheaper and cheaper the further we travel down it feels like we are travelling in luxury! We spent our last day in Hue on Sunday and decided to rent bicycles. This scared me a lot as I am not the most stable person on a bike at the best of times and the traffic here is so crazy but we decided to go for it. Was pretty scary at first trying to cross a road with all the scooters driving around but I just tried to go in a straight line and ignore them all. Once we got over the bridge and into the Imperial enclosure it was so relaxing cycling around and meant we got to see so much more of the place with minimal effort. We also went a visited a market which was pretty interesting to walk around. They sold all sorts of random stuff and every cut of meat you could ever want. Was very much a
locals market so was nice for once to be able to look around without being hassled to buy anything. Hue had some really cool bars which seem to be constantly in happy hour and offer free pool so we had chilled out a lot. We also found an amazing restaurant and ate some of the Hue specialities which involved some rice mush wrapped in a massive leaf (looked disgusting but was sooo tasty) and beef on lemon grass skewers. We are trying to be really adventurous with the food and it is totally paying off, Vietnamese food is amazing,
So after 2 days in Hue we decided to head off, we had originally planned to go to Danang but last minute changed our minds and decided to head straight for Hoi An. So first we caught the train to Danang and then a taxi to Hoi An. Hoi An is gorgeous, it is pretty much the only place not bombed in the war so is full of old French-Vietnamese buildings and houses. Has loads bars and restaurants and really good shopping, almost every shop is a tailor. Is a very touristy place but its understandable as it would be
a lovely place to come for a holiday. We spent our first afternoon in Hoi An exploring and having cocktails by the pool! For our second day Paul managed to persuade me to rent a motorbike (well scooter) which seemed scary but was actually awesome. Was brilliant to have the freedom to go wherever and we headed off down the to the coast. Found some gorgeous beaches, white sand, blue sea and sky and hardly anyone there. We then found an awesome bar down a little alleyway which did the best mojitos and really friendly staff. Had amazing day and kept having to pinch myself to believe that we are actually here. Only tiny downside to the day was that as we were on the bike we didn’t really feel the intensity of the heat and spent the whole day in the sun so now we are both pretty sunburnt (Paul especially). Today we haven’t really done much due to the sunburn and unfortunately Hoi An’s electricity supply isn’t that reliable so there has been no air-con anywhere today. This makes it unbearably hot and makes you wonder how anyone can survive in this country without the amazing invention that
is air-con.
We are now preparing to watch the England match, we have found a good bar and are going early to get the best seats. Paul is very excited but has warned me that he will be very grumpy tomorrow if things don’t go well. We are going to spend another couple of days in Hoi An as we love it here. We might try a cooking course tomorrow in one of the restaurants and we still have to visit My Son which are some nearby ruins. We are both loving Vietnam so much and it just seems to get better and better. Everything about Vietnam is just so different from home and in so many ways its just so much better. We are missing you all loads so everyone keep in touch! xxx
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stuart grocott
non-member comment
Looks and sounds fabulous. What an experience. Hope the result is the icing on the cake.