http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , South Central Coast , Hoi An en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:40:23 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:40:23 +0000 Why go to a landbased restaurant when you can get so much more on our exciting cruise Turn any special occasion into an unforgettable event. Cinnamon New Year's Eve Dinner Cruise in Hoi An is the perfect place to make a lasting memory.Welcome aboard Savor the view like no other.Ring in the New Year aboard the festive and fun Cinnamon Cruises. Join us for a bountiful buffet DJ for dancing New http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-463366.html Not sure what day it is but think we still have 9 days left of our trip.It has rained since arriving in Hoi An and plans of a boat trip along the river a tour to My Son and various other activities have faded. We did however manage to visit the Tra Que Vegetable Village fully organic and the farmers still work the fields manually. Enjoyed a basil seed tea and watched a tour group doing an imp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-461736.html The sleeper bus to Nha Trang left at 830pm from our handy travel agent in Ho Chi Minh City. It consists of two layers of beds with three rows extending down the bus. Each bed had a small storage space at the bottom that doubled for both carry on luggage items and leg and foot position. A blanket is provided as is the customary bottle of water which is just big enough to cover your exposed body. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-461590.html Arrived safe and well in Hoi An which is very different to where we have previously been in Vietnam. Our hotel is good and cheap Phuoc An River Hotel and has great views of the neighbouring rice fields fully equipped with ducks buffallo and geese.Went into the old part of Hoi An yesterday and did the tourist thing ate the local dish looked at the Japanese bridge circa 1750 went to a 30 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-461340.html It was time for a weekend away continuing my travels around Vietnam. The destination this time Hoi An. I had been wanting to go there for some time mostly for access to My Son. Last time I had tried to go I had to cancel due to flooding. This time though the weather looked good and there were no obstacles in my way so I booked the flights booked the hotel and set course for Central Vietnam.We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-459861.html Miss Nguyen and her sock creatures have almost celebrity status among their fans both here in Hoi An and abroad.Nguyen has been creating and selling her sock creatures for the past seven months at the Lifestart Foundation Workshop in Hoi An Vietnam.She lives with an inoperable condition commonly known as lsquoa hole in the heartrsquo which renders her immobile 12 hours each day while she is http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-459497.html An hours flight and a 45 minute taxi ride took us to Hoi An a very pretty riverside town. Hoi An is firmly on the tourist trail and has changed a lot since we were there last. We still loved it though On the drive from the airport it was very noticeable the road was now 4 lanes and was edged with large resorts a golf course and many signs advertising future developments. We visited Hoi An t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-458803.html Leaving the motorbikes behind we drove by bus through the stunning Hai Van mountain pass and down to our new home Hoi An a world heritage site. What you can have custom made by the extremely skilled artists and tradespeople is limited only by your imagination. One friend had a silver Tiffany design necklace crafted overnight. I had a silk jacket and pants made to order.... Others had leathe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-458506.html We were all set to slog out the 5 hour local bus to Hoi An but chickened out at the last minute. We took the 'easier' option of a 12 hour trip on a sleeperbus. The promise of children sleeping for 10 hours or so and missing the bulk of a bus journey was too tempting to pass up. Had to hang around in Nha Trang for the 7 pm departure. It was really hot so we headed down to the beach where it was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-455722.html Arrived in Hoi An and floated in a sea of tourists for a couple of days Its a UNESCO world heritage site as was Hue on the basis of the beautiful old town and due to the sheer number of historic buildings which have been maintained. It was even spared the ravages of the American War not called the Vietnam War here through agreement of all sides. The town centre near the river is certainly http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-454810.html Where to even begin to sum up traveling down the length of Vietnam This is a country of contrasts and hyper stimulation wild wild traffic amazing and diverse landscapes and daily life lived out on the street many houses open on to the street where cooking and eating is jostled in amongst the countless motor bikes parked on the sidewalks. Sorry no pictures Jon and I still haven't figured http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-454799.html We left Nha Trang once again travelling by the sleeping bus. We arrived early in the morning and got to our new hotel 'Phuoc An' half asleep. When we were arrived we were told there was no booking under 'cox'. We were both shocked as we had already paid our deposite the night before and the risk of more sleep deprevation was fueling the anger inside us both. After half an hour and extensive resear http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-449473.html We have moved up the Vietnam coast to Hoi An. To get here we had to take a 12 hour bus ride on a sleeper bus which was not a fun experience. There are three rows of matchboxes to sleep in and they are stacked two rows high. Cramped to say the least. Then they had us go to the back row where they had squished 6 of us in 5 beds and there should not have even been beds there because they were hal http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-448384.html Design your dream dress with a dressmaker. Therersquos a sign when you entering Hoi An saying that the old town is an UNESCO sight what the sign fails to mention is that it is also a shopping Mecca with every street lined with tailor shops totalling over a 100 shops. So herersquos my story. After arriving into Hoi An we went for a lovely lunch in the Cargo bar which had a picturesque setti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-448025.html We make a rush out in the morning to catch all the sights. Quick breakfast at the patisserie with croissants and chocolate croissants great bakery stuff again. We walk up to the Japanese Bridge and the Assembly of Phu Kien. We need to get the combined tickets for the old city which is available at street corners. 75 dongs for 5 places with an 'intangible culture' option. We clutch our maps and m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-447397.html Mornings in trains are always interesting. People of all shades and shapes wake up ane perform the same functions. Its like the great leveller. The good thing about these trains are that the attendant sees to it that the toilets are clean. And food comes in trollyes. Tea and coffee. Lunch on order. An old lady sleeps in our cabin. She is fascinated by our family and puts up with a lot to continue http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-447392.html Saturday 10th October to Friday 16th OctoberHaving descended Fansipan cleansed ourselves with the vigour of the obsessivecompulsive at our hotel stuffed ourselves with cake and coffee and caught the night train back to Hanoi me and Coop was due to leave the north and start the long journey southwards down the coast of Vietnam following in the footsteps of many a backpacker before us. Our bus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-446363.html Final entry in the Vietnam series...We flew from Hanoi to DaNang and arrived at what would be the final stop on our Vietnam tour at about 8pm. I arranged for a car to meet us my new favorite travel thing to do and we were driven to the Hoi An Trails Resort. I should mention that we had originally booked a different hotel one that was recommended by friends and travel sites but it was damaged http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-445653.html We headed to Hoirsquo an after another early start and annoyingly spending 2 hours driving around Hue picking people upWe arrived in Hoirsquo an at the usual hotel the bus decides to stop at with both us being quickly woken up and a bit disorientated with a woman waving a map of Hoirsquo an in our faces showing where her hotel the Grasslands is in relation to Hoirsquo an lsquo300 me http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-444826.html Good morning VietnamTo avoid Hanoi the busy noisy smoggy capital of Vietnam we made a 3 days trip by boat to Tu Long Bay as beautiful as Halong Bay but some way more beautiful because of few tourism development for the moment.It was too complicated to organize by ourselves so decided to join a tour. We were a small group of 7 people and did cycle around and visited some hidden beaches on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-444058.html