Blogs from Hoi An, Quảng Nam, South Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 134

Well we arrived in Nha Trang from HCM with great relief to my dodgy stomach - say no more. The next day was a recovery day before we went to trip around the local islands. The trip included a small fishing village where the locals paddled around in small baskets attempting to ferry you around for a dollar. We had a meal on the island and then went for a snorkel. The afternoon was taken up with snoozing and doing pencil dives of the top of the boat (an ozzy thing?). On returning we then caught the night train again to Hoi An. Hong gave us a detailed discussion about security on the train as there are many thieves around and if they see a tourist, gather like rust on a hyundai coupe. When he was ... read more

Sheila and I decided to ditch the group's cooking class yesterday to go shopping. Seven hours later, fifteen bags later -- we returned to the group. I think the highlight of our day was designing our own shoes. It was wicked cool. We are heading to Cambodia this afternoon - until then. - S. (ue) --------- Sean, Colin, Melissa & I (Seth) enjoyed the cooking class yesterday. No one lost any fingers and we are now experts at creating the perfect spring roll. We also learned how to make a fan out of quartered cucumber and a rose out of a tomato peel. Sean started a trend by ordering a beer in the middle of the class. Soon most of the fifteen students were boozing and the quality of the tomato-peel-roses declined markedly. Needless to say, ... read more

Hoi An is a quaint tourist village about half way down the Vietnam coast. The city is crawling with backpackers and stocked with western-oriented hotels, restaurants and shops. In spite of (or because of) all this, it is a pretty fun place. The city is most famous for its tailors. About a quarter of the shops downtown are custom clothing tailors who will make anything you want - more on this in a later post. The city also has some nearby attractions, such as the My Son ruin complex, which the rest of the group visited. As Sue mentioned, Sean and I took a tumble on a scooter we were using to get to a spa in Hoi An ($20 for a 75 minute massage!). I was unable to control the bike when we hit some ... read more

Hoi An is a lovely place, unscared by the war. Here exists temples and homes of rich merchant communities from China, Japan and Fiji.These communities used Ho An as base for their businesses in Vietnam. The temples and buildings are impressive and some are several hundred years old. There is an old covered bridge that was built by the Japanese and the town is a haven for tourists, with lots of Art Galleries and trinket shops. Hoi An also has over 200 hundred tailor shops and it is possible to get a tailored suit made for 35-55 US dollars. I puschased one and thought i had a bargain until i realised i had to carry it for the next eight months! Around 30km away are ancient temples of the Cham people, called My Son or the ... read more

Sorry to all of you reading this thinking what the bejesus is going on about these dates, but I am new to this online travel journey malarchy, and have not really worked it out as yet. Anyway, here is the next installment dating from the 22nd November (Happy Birthday Joel!) but written on the 5th December. Tuesday 22nd November - Saturday 26th November Vientiane - Si Phan Don ("The Four Thousand Islands") In Vientiane, after a blissful nights sleep in clean sheeted beds, we wander to the morning market to see what all the brouhaha is about. It is huge. That just about covers it. It is huge and is split into various sections according to what the various shops specialise in. For instance there is a jewellry section, split into sub-divisions of bling gold and ... read more