A bit of shopping and a bit of the beach

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So I left off in Halong Bay and that night we were taking yet ANOTHER OVER NIGHT BUS. I have told some of you that I finally had a bit of a breakdown I think for many accumulating reasons but mostly due to the fact I was dreading getting on the bus for another 15 hours. We literally got dropped off the back of the motorbikes on the side of the road by the company we bought this open tour ticket from and were told "wait for the 6:30pm bus" that was it! So a bus comes along and it is only 6pm and we were expecting it to be a little more 'touristy' from what the lady at the booking office told us so when we only saw Vietnamese people with monster sized bags of who knows what getting on the bus we were sure it wasn't our bus... wrong it was our bus and we only found this out after asking about 3795903487 people including the driver who was supposed to be informed of us 'foreigners waiting' for him but he only shoed us away. I think I had it coming (the breakdown) due to the amount of times in 10 days of getting ripped off left, right, and center. Got on the bus and hid under my towel to have a bit of 'alone time'. Adele managed to cheer me up and make small of all these little incidences and the people cheating us! So now it is just a joke every time something happens... (I'm trying anyways😊
The bus ride was extra fun because we think he was a new driver and sitting in the back of the bus with a driver who can't find the gears and stalls every now and then is always a blast! Our driver was super slow so we missed the connecting bus to Hoi An by a couple hours and had to stay in Hue for a few hours. Jumped on the back of a bike after getting the price down to something we considered reasonable and saw some of the sites around the city (glad that we didn't spend any time here because it really isn't all that grand)! The people who we hired the bikes from again tried to rip us off and make us pay for an hour when we were only gone 30 minutes and by now I have been so fed up I basically threw half of the money at him and walked off... a little nervous of course! Finally, it was time to get on the bus and we had a few problems with our driver who had to go to the police station for some reason (still unknown) but that put us back another hour. On the bus about 3/4 of the way through a child was sick and stunk up the whole bus of vomit 2 seats in front of me (I was lucky not to be seated where the girls got a splash of it all down their legs). See Adele, I am beginning to be positive! So after 25 hours of being on a bus or waiting impatiently for a bus we made it to Hoi An. This is where everyone comes to do their shopping because there are over 200 shops to choose a tailor from and have your clothes made specially for you. The idea of this is great... however I am a little sketchy on the quality. So I still went for it and got a skirt and dress made (the dress I will probably never wear). I did have 2 dresses being made however I was unimpressed with the quality and the fitting of one and had a struggle trying to leave the store with the dress I did like! We also managed to find a quiet beach and spent a day just relaxing (for the first time in a month). It was really nice and met a few of the local people and had a good laugh with 3 teenage boys who had some key phrases to win you over to buy their fruit or other goodies. "No Money, No Honey", "Im Too young for love" "Look for free, buy from me" etc etc. It sounds better when you hear them over and over from little 10 year old children! We also spoke with a university student for a long time who was really interesting to talk to. She spoke perfect English and was studying Russian at university and has been working at the beach since she was 8 years old selling jewelry to help pay for her education. She was very informative about her country and the people and I learned a lot from her (I regret not buying a bracelt from her now)! The city shuts down really early (we just found out because they are up and about at 4am). I think we spent 3 days in Hoi An and then caught the next bus to Nha Trang (another overnighter). Arrived here this morning and it is a beach town but there is no sun and not really much else to do here during the day so we have just walked around a bit. Anyways, another long entry sorry but still trying to play catch up!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer back home or wherever you are!

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