From Hoi An to Sapa.

Where to start, where to start. Since writing last, I have traveled more than half the country's length - from Da Lat to Hoi An, to Hanoi to Sapa. To best cover each city I'll split this post up.

Hoi An.

We arrived just out of Hoi An on the 11th of feb by a sitting bus (I think I was 2 hours in when I last wrote) at around 7 in the morning. We then taxied to Hoi An (central coast of vietnam), in which our driver nearly ran over a girl who fell off her bike and was then later side swiped by a passing motor scooter rider. Coming off a 14 hour, sitting bus ride, this was all very hectic. We arrived at our guesthouse (lochphat guesthouse) that is owned by Quoc and Ling Lochphat, found some food down the street, and slept for around 5 hours.

We were booked to stay at the Lochphat's for 2 days but extended our stay by two more, as they were great people and we were enjoying Hoi An. The stay was themed by the tailoring culture that exists in the city. There are streets and streets of tailors , making many many different things. I eventually found myself with a suit, a suit jacket, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 jackets, a cardigan and a shirt. Hmmmm, not quite sure what happened, but that's what I ended up with (it'll all come in handy in London I'm sure). I discovered that it's best not to go too custom, or stray away from what they're very used to making, as it may result in some questionable creations.

While there, we stumbled across a cafe named 'laughing cafe', which was created by an Australian organization to assist less fortunate Vietnamese teens who wanted to improve their English and gain some skills in the kitchen - great food and really good to meet the people who worked there.

Hoi An's beach is pretty great. Imagine clean sand, palm trees and refreshing, fairly clean water. Vietnamese ladies roam the beach with scores of souvenirs, hoping to make a sale. One such lady approach Anna and I and made some pretty friendly conversation ... Get ready for a but of a story... Eventually, she got down to business, asking if we would like to buy anything. We had no money so told her we weren't able to. She was a persistent one, telling us it was ok to take an item there and then and then meet her the next day with the Benjamin's (she must have sensed honestly in the air!). We told her we wouldn't feel right doing this and she said it was fine. This went back and forth, back and forth for a while, until eventually we gave in and agreed to take something (2 tiger balms for 100,000 ($5 US). This made her very happy. We made a meeting time of 4pm and she set off down the beach.... Next day, weather was terrible - rain, wind, more rain! The afternoon came up and it was time to meet our friend at the beach. When we got there, no one in sight. We found a couple of viet ladies sitting under a shelter and asked if they had seen our friend around. They said she'd been there around 3, waited half an hour, and left. Couldn't believe it! This poor old lady must have thought we were the worst. I couldn't let this lady's trustworthiness be broken due to the fact that we'd mixed up our meeting time, so asked frantically if any of these ladies could call her to get her back. Another kind restaurant owner came down to the beach, learnt what had happened and got on the phone. Within 15 minutes our friend was trundling along the beach, looking for her payment. We'd restored her faith in the traveling Australian!

While at the guesthouse we met some great people who we will meet up with when we get to London. The family who ran it were really friendly and very hard working.

So to wrap up Hoi An - nice city with a theme of clothes clothes clothes. Would go back. The next part of our journey is a 16 hour train ride....