Ninh Binh to Da Nang and Hoi An

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Yesterday we set off early from our hotel to catch a train at 8.30am. The train station was heaving yet luckily a friendly security guard showed us exactly where to stand on the platform to ensure we got in the right carriage. The platform was ridiculously long and people were walking all over the tracks as well as driving their mopeds across them as the tracks were platform level. Once the train arrived it was a bit of a crush but our huge backpacks managed to fend of anyone wanting to overtake us! As soon as we stepped onto the train all eyes were on us! We found our seats and settled in for the 14 hour journey. The train was quite tatty but comfortable enough and luckily the seats reclined. The scenery was great so depsite the long day we got to see more of Vietnam. Food carts went passed often but due to their smell and appearance; questionable looking meat lumped into a cardboard box, we decided to stick to our bread and alpen bars! We literally sat and didn't move until about 10 hours in when a beligerant woman got on and insisted that we moved as we were in her seat. (When we got on people were already in our seats so we presumed you sat anywhere and in any case we were'nt prepared to argue with someone to make them move!) Fortunately there were two seats a bit further down the carriage although a massive unidentifiable bug was circling our heads! Eventually we arrived in DaNang after a stressful journey of not knowing which stop was ours! We had asked about six people who worked on the train and they either didn't know or told us different times!

Exhausted we were thankful to finally reach our hotel just before 11pm. First impressions weren't great as not only was the room we booked apparently, 'full' so we had to stay in a more expensive one, but there was no window and only a side lamp, (until we discovered which switch turned on the main light!). Too tired to care that much, we had a good nights sleep.

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Today we thankfully managed to have lie in, (9am...) We then headed out to the beach for about 4 hours where we were able to relax and enjoy a bit of sun. The water was also realy warm so paddling didn't go a miss. AFte the beach our hotel arranged a car to take us to Hoi An. After checking in, (to a much nicer room) we headed out to explore the town. Hoi An seems to be the tailoring capital with apparently over 200 tailor shops, an ideal place for cheap made to measures. Being girls, we thought one dress each was quite restrained...first fitting tomorrow!

Afterwards we headed to the harbour, the town is small and really scenic, (it is a Unesco World Heritage Site) and the architecture is full of European influence as it was an important trading town. We found it a lot calmer than Hanoi, especially as after 5pm, mopeds and vehicles cannot come through the town centre which is lined with market stalls. We ate at a fancy restaurant yet for some reason sitting upstairs is 10% cheaper so our meals were the same price as normal. Our table was great as it was on the balcony overlooking the town. Another plate of noodles!! We headed back to the Hotel around 8pm to book some more flights and have a relaxing evening.

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