Hi everyone, I'm back and pleased to say my foot is now more or less fully healed - don't worry Carly is going to wrap me up in cotton wool from now on to make sure no further accidents occur, really don't think either of our nerves could take it (or yours Mum and Dad)!!

So we left Hanoi on an overnight sleeper bus bound for our next destination, Hoi An. We were told that the bus had beds and as the journey was going to take approx 15 hours (plus probably an extra 3 or so allowing for the 'famous Asian timings') we decided to pay a bit more for this "luxury". As we boarded the bus our excitement quickly turned to horror as we were shoved to the back, our so called beds were the bottom bunks in a hot dark corner. The air conditioning was barely touching us and is was absolutely baking! As Carly shed a few tears, I tried to play it down (I felt really bad as it was me that insisted we got this bus after the nightmare bus trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai when I was ill) - sorry sweetie! Luckily our moods were lifted as Carly received a phone call from James (her brother) to say that he had passed his driving test. This quickly bought a smile to Carly's face as she proceeded to tell everyone on the bus. Well done James and thanks for making us smile in our moment of crisis!!!!!!!

Anyway we managed to get a few hours of broken sleep in our hot little corner and 15 or so hours later, we arrived in Hue at approx 8.15am. As we were heading further south, we were told to stay on the bus assuming it was going to take us all the way there - wrong! They literally drove round the corner to their office where we had to get off to catch another bus. However we had just missed the connection which left at 8am so had to wait around till 1.30pm - Not Impressed!!

We used the time to get some breakfast and catch up on our emails. We caught the bus and arrived in Hoi An at approximately 5.30pm, v hot and bothered (15 hours had turned into nearly 23 hours in total since we left Hanoi). We had been recommended a hotel by some people we met a few days ago which had a swimming pool. It was slightly more than we would usually pay on our travelling budget but as they say in the Lonely Planet, we decided to "splurge"! Our room was lovely, breakfast was included and as we jumped into that swimming pool, it was totally worth every penny and the memories of the bus journey from hell quickly faded - bliss!

Hoi An is a small town in the middle of Vietnam, half way between Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and is famous for its hundreds of tailors that line the streets ready to make you made to measure clothing. Now obviously Carly and I are not really ones for shopping - yeah right! So as you can imagine, we were both giddy with excitement at the prospect of having clothes made for us. Our dilemma though, which one do we chose?? How do we know if they will be any good etc? There were some girls in our hotel having their clothes boxed up to send home and they recommended the one they had been to so off we went.

As we arrived, we sat down and were given catalogues to flick through to decide what we wanted. It reminded me of "Pretty Women" where she goes shopping for clothes, ok it was not quite Rodeo Drive but still! I already knew that I wanted a couple of suits for work and Carly wanted some linen trousers. It was a mother and daughter that owned it and they kept pointing at things saying beautiful etc....Well as you can imagine we got right into it and rather carried away. I ended up ordering 9 items and in the end Carly also ordered 9 items too. This included 2 suits for me plus 3 dresses and for Carly, the linen trousers plus a couple of dresses, a skirt, top and even some cushion covers for her newly decorated bedroom! We bartered a little and did get them down a bit however it was quite difficult when it was so cheap to begin with. I think in the end we spent about 100 pounds between us - not bad for 18 items eh?!

We were told to come back that evening for our first fitting so off we went very excited and pleased with ourselves. We spent the rest of the day, lounging by the pool and totally making the most of the sun bathing opportunity.

We did also manage to do the cultural bit too by visiting the Ancient Japanese Bridge in the old town. This was built in the 17th century by the Japanese as a gateway for the foreign merchant ships to come into Hoi An to trade.....Oh and we also managed a spot of souvenir shopping!

We went back for our first fitting that evening and I think as we both had such high expectations, we were initially a little disappointed as every single item required some changes to be made. Still it was better to get it right and make sure we were both totally happy with everything. In total we went back for four fittings just to make sure everything was right and in the end, we were both extremely pleased with everything we bought. Really wish I could have all my clothes made to measure at those prices!!!

The evenings in Hoi an were fairly quiet as everything seemed to close pretty early by about 9.30-10. I do though have to mention the fantastic meals we had (sorry Grant!)....The first night we went to this riverside restaurant and had 3 courses plus a dessert for 1 pound 25p each and it was lovely. It was such a bargain that we ended up going back last night and this time splashed out on a bottle of local wine. The same deal as before including the wine cost us 2 pounds 50p each - if only we could eat/drink that cheap every night still maybe it's a blessing in disguise otherwise our new clothes would never fit! We also went for a curry and to quote Carly "it was the best curry I have had in a long time and my Dad makes lovely curries" - sorry Paul I think there is a hidden compliment in there somewhere for you but it was gorgeous and def the best we have had since being away.

Well that's about it from Hoi An. We are both totally shopped till we dropped and absolutely loved it! Hoi An itself is such a lovely place and is definitely the best place we have been to in Vietnam, really wish we could stay longer....

Back now to the busy city life and to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

Until next time, lots of love to you all.
Claire and Carly xxxxxx

(7/6/07 - 10/6/07)