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Published: December 29th 2007
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Hoi An is a gorgeous little town in Central Vietnam where all the buildings are really well preserved so it looks really quaint and picturesque!! There are lots of cobbled streets and its by a very pretty looking river. It also seems to be the tailoring capital of Vietnam and every other shop is a tailors.
I arrived after dark, after a VERY long journey from Ninh Binh. The guy I bought the bus ticket from had told me that I'd be on a sleeper bus all the way to Hoi An and that the bus would go directly there. Instead I got a sleeper bus to Hue, I then had to wait in Hue for 4 hours, before then transferring to a normal bus to Hoi An. So I left Ninh Binh at 10pm and didn't get to Hoi An til 6pm the next day!! Typical eh. It wasn't all bad though, I got to look around Hue for a bit and try some of the local food, which was really tasty. The journey from Hue to Hoi An was probably the most beautiful journey yet - it went over something called the Han Van Pass, which is a
beautiful stretch of road over the mountains. Apparently the train journey is supposed to be even better!!
When I arrived I was supposed to be meeting up with Katie and Julian, the couple I'd met in Sapa, who were already in Hoi An, but it was dark and I'm not great at finding my way around in the dark so I just checked into the first cheap hotel I could find (it was $7 and had a TV - bargain!!). I then just stayed in watching TV all night. Very boring when there's a whole new town to explore, but I felt wiped out from the long journey. I think I was probably asleep by 9pm!!!
I woke up the next day feeling a lot more refreshed, so headed off to breakfast at a local cafe. I got chatting to the girl on the next table, Rebecca and within an hour we were new roommates!! It was nice to have someone to share with and it saved us both a lot of money. The new hotel even had a swimming pool!! That day me and Rebecca decided to spend the day by the beach - the journey there
was so funny!! The beach is 5km away, so we got a motorbike taxi. We managed to bargain the taxi woman down to 10,000 dong each (about 33p), however we ended up having to both go on the same bike, so all 3 of us set off with Rebecca sandwiched in the middle and me precariously balanced on the back, trying not to fall off each time there was a hole in the road. It was a very bumpy ride as well!! I left all my valuables in the hotel safe as I'm scared of taking them to the beach now (I think thats where they must have been stolen from last time), but it was so beautiful that I regretted not taking my camera after all. We spent the whole day just chilling and we treated ourselves to a nice cocktail. It was just a really nice relaxing day!!
That evening we got chatting to a girl called Kelly, who was also travelling alone so we all set off together to check out the nightlife. Once a month on full moon Hoi An has a celebration and the motorbikes aren't allowed to go on the roads and there
are beautiful lanterns lighting up all the streets - luckily that night was full moon!! There were children playing games everywhere and it just looked so beautiful. In the first bar we went to we got chatting to another girl called Lucy and the 4 of us spent the night together, drinking. The pub we ended up in was almost empty, I don't think Hoi An is much of a party town!! Although somehow I still ended up coming home drunk and at 4am!!
The next day was manic as we'd decided to leave that night and head for Nha Trang for Christmas Day. Rebecca had ordered lots of tailored clothes and I'd given in to the sales people and ordered some jeans and a jacket (they were a bargain $40 in total for both jeans and a fully lined jacket!!). We ended up spending most of the day alternating between wandering the cobbled streets exploring and in changing rooms of the tailors trying on our clothes!! My jacket was amazing, but I wasn't that happy with the jeans - they make me look like I've got no arse!! Rubbish eh. I'm going to have to start eating more!!
Rebecca had 5 suits, a dress and 3 jackets made, so as you can imagine it was an even busier day for her!!
We had booked the cheapest overnight bus to Nha Trang, so at 6.30pm when a sleeper bus arrived (the most luxurious way of travelling) we were amazed to find that we were booked on it!! There must not have been enough people travelling to warrant sending two buses. What great luck eh!!
I was sad to leave Hoi An, I wish we'd had more time there really, but I wanted to get to Saigon for New Year and I wanted to be somewhere partyish for Christmas, so we had to leave really. It was a really gorgeous place though, with amazing shops and the best food I've had so far in Vietnam. A lovely, lovely place that I'd recommend to anyone!!
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