So we left Dalat for Hoi An and to break the journey up had a few days stop over in Nha Trang. The journey down from the Highlands to Nha Trang was a thing of sheer beauty, the rolling hills and waterfalls all along the path made it hard to keep our noses and cameras away from the windows... We had looked into cycling from Dalat which would have been a fantastic way to do the journey if the price hadn't been so extortionate (even the tour agency said 50 dollars on the bike was a rip off when you could get the bus for 5). We arrived into Nha Trang about 2:00 and had a look what the town had to offer We walked to the beach but it was a bit windy for sun bathing and swimming; only the most determined Russian tourists had donned there speedos and set up on the beach. We ended up in a bar called the Lousianna Brewhouse just off the beach which provided shelter from the wind and was a nice little sun trap too. We lazed around on their sun loungers infront of the pool sipping Lousianna beer (which to be honest was subpar). The rank tasting beer was soured further when we were told we had to pay for using their loungers even though we'd eaten and drunk there and weren't told when we came in either. To finish the evening off we did have a really good traditional Vietnamese meal from a restaurant called Lemongrass (Heather said we should eat there because it had to be good food with a name like Lemongrass and she was right).

The second day in Nha Trang we were took back to our childhoods with a visit to Vinpearl Land. The theme park is situated on its own private island and is accessed via the longest over sea cable car in the world. Apparently! We spent the morning going on the rollercoaster and swing carousel but this was just the warm up for the waterpark in the afternoon... It was a bit chilly and windy but that didn't stop us diving straight into the lazy river and floating round for about 10 minutes before sampling all the slides on offer in the park. First up was the Tsunami resembling a giant half pipe which you are dropped into and then slide from side to side losing your stomach all the way down. We also tried the Free Fall; which was really high and to be honest quite terrifying, 6 lane waterslide; which Heather seemed to beat me everytime on and the Space Bowl; which span you round in a giant bowl before spitting you out. The Space Bowl left us both pretty bruised so after that we decided to call it a day in the waterpark. To finish our time off at the park we headed to the amusement arcade and played whack-a-mole and Dance Revolution completely free. After all this fun we were ready to leave Nha Trang and settled down on the bus for the overnight journey to Hoi An...

As we arrived in Hoi An, very early again, we were greeted by a swarm of motorbike drivers all touting there prospective hotels. Most times we just ignored them but this time they seemed extra pushy and I think the lack of sleep didn't help either. We slipped away and sat in the only cafe that was open for breakfast, while we had a base for the bags I walked up and down the street asking the hotels that were just opening if they had rooms for the night. We eventually found one and just crashed to catch up on sleep we'd missed on the bus. We'd always wanted to visit Hoi An but there was also an alterior motive on my part and that was to get a suit tailor made. Hoi An has the largest number of tailors in the whole of Vietnam apparently over 400. We spent most of the day going in and out of tailors, trawling through catalogues filled with different styles which they copy and picking out the exact material I wanted. After a long day of deliberating we had to take a break with some Bia Hoa (the cheap local beer). Finally I came to the decision that I'd go for the slightly more expensive suit as they had the material I wanted and offered more fittings before finalising the suit.

Once we were set with the suit we spent the next few days sight seeing around the times for the fittings. We hired bikes and cycled out to the beach, which similar to Nha Trang was to windy to be enjoyable. We stopped in a little family run restauarant for lunch and noticed they did a cooking class and after chatting to them about the class decided it would be fun to book for the following morning. The rest of the day we visited a pottery village on the other side of Hoi An and got to try our hand at some traditional pottery which is powered by one woman kicking a disk round with her foot whilst another person spins the pot!

Our last day in Hoi An was mainly spent in the town itself as we had to keep returning to the tailors for my fittings. The morning however we spent doing the cookery class, which was so much fun. After each dish we got to gorge ourselves with the food we'd made and the dishes were delicious too. We made fried spring rolls followed by pappaya salad and pork in a clay pot; which had become a favourite of mine. The chef even showed us how to make flowers from carrots as an extra at the end and printed all the recipes out for us to try at home. That evening when my suit was finally ready we picked it up and prepared to leave Hoi An the following day...