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Published: June 19th 2011
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The change over at Danang was pretty simple although once again the bus lady tried to charge us 3 times the normal price and then when we agreed on a lower price tried to short change us, refusing to give us the right change until we started to make a bit of a scene.
We arrived an hour later and crossed the road to grab some noodles before walking into town. We quickly found a nice room for $10 and took a walk around. We rented a scooter in the evening and rode down to the beach which was packed with tourists, mostly Vietnamese. After a swim we decided there were just too many people and drove back to town for some dinner.
We got up early the next morning and drove down to the beach, and it was well worth it as there was hardly anyone there. We bought a snorkel and spent about 2 hours swimming and trying to find some fish – we found 3 between the 2 of us! We spent the rest of the day riding around on the scooter and relaxing. Hoi an is famous for shopping, in particular for tailor made clothes.
Debbie ripped her trousers back in Hanoi and lost her shorts when they flew off the boat in Halong bay so was in need of some new trousers – She ordered some brown linen trousers and 4 hours later went for a fitting – they were perfect!
We returned the scooter and took a walk down to the river and across the bridge and found Man Nguyen restaurant where we had the best food we’ve tasted since arriving in Vietnam. At night all the shops and streets are filled with colourful lanterns, Hoi an feels romantic, even if there are rather a lot of tourists roaming around.
We had booked a cooking class for the following morning that sounded brilliant, including a boat ride, picking herbs in a local village and a lesson in how to make passion fruit soda. So we were up and waiting for our taxi pick up at 9am when a man strolled over and introduced our guide who would be cycling with us to the restaurant. Hmmm. We were a little confused as the leaflet definitely said nothing about cycling or a restaurant – we were supposed to be cooking at someone’s house
on an island! When the guy told us there is no boat ride included we marched ourselves up the road to the agency that sold us the tour, who were also a little confused. Turns out that the company we wanted to go with are no more, and the agency had booked with another company who had a completely different programme. In the end we asked for our money back and decided to do a bit of sight-seeing around the old town – Japanese covered bridge, Tran family chapel, Museum of Sa Huynh Culture, Assembly hall of the Cantonese Chinese congregation and handicraft workshop where we watched some traditional dance and music. Debbie also got measured up for a little summer dress – she couldn’t resist – and we spent a few hours back at the hotel relaxing and watching a movie before heading back out to Man Nguyen restaurant for dinner, beer and a cheeky cocktail or two. The beef in curry and Pink Passion Cocktail are particularly good.
Next morning we were up at 6.30am to rent bicycles and cycle to the beach for some more swimming and snorkelling on an almost deserted beach. We were back
at the hotel by 9am and decided to get some Cao Lau for breakfast before checking out. We spent the rest of the day walking round the old town stopping off for drinks and spring rolls before heading back to our hotel to catch the 16 hour bus to Saigon....
Deb & Ang
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