Hoi An

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Day 36

Expecting a 12 hour train journey we arrived tired and frustrated in Da Nang after over 18 hours on the train (a combination of misinformation and delays). After fighting our way through taxi drivers we clubbed together with some other travellers and got a minibus to Hoi An. Although we were keen to get to the beach, the minute we dumped our bags at the hotel and headed out it started to rain so we headed to a beachside bar for a beer instead. With the poor weather the beach area was very quiet, so after a tasty seafood dinner and some sub-one-dollar happy hour cocktails, we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 37

Today we woke up to some glorious sunshine and headed straight for the local beach, Cua Dia, a 1 minute walk from our hotel. Although a lovely beach, the area is teaming with hotels and resorts so, guided by Lonely Planet, we headed 5km up the beach to the quieter An Bang beach. We took our time stopping for photos and beers (which seemed appropriate, despite it being only 11am...) on the way. We spent the whole afternoon on the beautiful beaches, dipping in and out of the sea, with a great fresh salad and seafood lunch at a place called La Plage. We had a great day of relaxing, reading and sipping on beer and fresh fruit juices--a great getaway from the noisy cities. It wasn't until we got up to leave that we noticed we had maybe had a little too much sun, and both resembled crabsticks--typical Brits abroad!

Late afternoon we transferred to a hotel in the town centre, just in time for the happy hour free cocktails! We walked around the old town for a bit and had a fantasitic Vietnamese taster menu at Ms Ly's restaurant (fried wantons, Cau Lau and Banh Bo) before heading back. We then cleared the rose petals from our bed (not bad for a $12 hotel room!) and crashed.

Day 38

Still feeling a little tender, and looking to avoid the sunshine, we took a walk around the old town and treated ourselves to a full-english breakfast! Hoi An was really nice to walk around, with quaint streets full of tailors, gift shops and nice restaurants and cafes. We took a boat trip along the river, saw the Japanese covered bridge and had a great day wandering round taking in the atmosphere.

After more free cocktails at the hotel we met with Leen and Brego from our China tour and had a great meal at 'Morning Glory' (which is apparantly a vegetable...) where we had a great time catching up and exchanging travel stories. We then met with some others we had met at our hotel earlier for a few drinks, which led to an unexpected moped ride to Volcano Club. The club was empty when we arrived, but since it was free entry and free "vodka Redbull" we stayed to make the most of it and left at 3am, taking a hair-raising motorbike taxi back to the hotel.

Day 39

We had a lie in to recover from last night and had a street food breakfast of some kind of stewed meat, a fried egg and bread--which turned out to be pretty tasty. We then hired a moped from the hotel and set off on an explore. Despite having GPS and intentions of going to My Son temples, we soon veered off track and ended up on dirt tracks going through bushes and being chased by some not very friendly looking dogs! We eventually got ourselves back on track, but by this time decided we were ready to turn back, and headed to the centre for some more Lao Cau street food.


We'd had a great time in Hoi An and were a little sad to be leaving, but with lots still on our agenda, we headed to the station and boarded yet another night train to Nha Trang.

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