Ok, so our first taste of Hoi An didn't put a great light on the place. After our 13 hour bus journey on upright chairs, traditional Vientamese horms tooting at every opportunity and constant karoke videos we were in the best of moods anyway. But when our bus decides to drive through the centre of Hoi An and drop us off at some pushy hotel way out of town, we were more than angry! They made us get off and said we all had to stay at this hotel. When we asked where the centre of Hoi An the previously fluent bus staff could no longer speak a word of English and just pointed to the rude hotel manager. Needless to say we put our packs on and headed out on foot back towards the centre that we had just driven straight through.

It was absolutely pouring down as we made our way to the one hotel we had in mind. After eventually finding it they shouted 'FULL' before we had even stepped across the door. We were walking round for ages trying to find a decent place when a couple approached us and told us they had just checked out of their hotel, for $8 a night, and showed us where it was. We must have looked in need of help!

It was clean (enough!) so we dumped our bags, grateful to have them off our backs and headed out to the old quarter where we finally got a glimpse of what people rave about. Tiny narrow streets, pastel coloured walls of all different colours, bright lanterns everywhere, old teak houses, taliored clothes EVERYWHERE and full of life, history, smiles and charm. This place is gorgeous, even in the rain! People greet you in the streets with smiles, admittedly trying to sell but not with the same agression as else where in Vietnam.

We went in a few tailors to check out how things work and the type of prices quoted. This is the town of tailored fashion and they will make or copy anything. I was tempted to get a suit for when I get back to reality and have to start wearing something a bit more acceptable than stained cut off pants and holey t-shirts but the whole process seemed utterly daunting! There are HUNDREDS of tailors here. If we were here on a 2 weeks holiday I am sure we would have split up by now becuase I have no incentive to close the wallet and hold back!

We wandered into the local market which was absolute chaos! The fish section was right on the river and there were woman shouting at the tops of their voices as they cut off the heads from live eels and fish! They were all laughing and joking together as they squatted over their piles of wriggling fish and it really made me smile.

We went to a tiny little cafe right on the riverside for dinner, Cafe 96 and bumped into Adam and Sarah, the 2 Alaksians we had met previously on the bus to Mui Ne, and at the market earlier in the day. WE ended up having their tables as they were just leaving! We still find it weird that somewhere so far away from home and anything familiar we still bump into familiar faces and recognise people! Cafe 96 served the best food and reminded us of the great stuff we had had in Battambang, Cambodia. We tried the local dish, Cao Lao, which is only found in Hoi An becuase the noodles can only be cooked from the water from a certain well in the town. Pork slices are then placed on top of the noodle broth with crispy rice paper. It was really tasty! We had Won Ton and White Rose too all for under $5!

I asked our waitor how much a suit should cost in one of the local tailors and he said he wouldn't know as he has only ever needed one suit.. for his wedding and even that was second hand. I felt so bad! I always manage to but my foot in it somehow! He was so lovely though and gave me the address of his nephews tailors. As much as it was nice of him, no-one is objective in Vietnam!

After a few drinks we headed back to our geusthouse but it was really eerie. It wasn't even late and yet the streets were almost in complete darkness and with all the narrow lanes my m ind started playing tricks on me, picturing shapes and figures moving about! I practically ran back and was glad to be going to sleep in a bed, with no karaoke to be heard anywhere!

Hoi An

Still cold and rainy but just as beautiful. I decided to take the plunge and order a suit and a cocktail dress in one of the many tailors we went in yesterday, Phoung 36. It was the only one we went in that was't listed in the Lonley Planet but it had the dress design that I wanted and the woman had been willing to negotiate prices where a lot of others were fixed. I ended up being measured for a silk/satin cocktail dress, a suit jacket, matching trousers and pencil skirt for $110 (she started at $160). Instead of being relieved that I had finally made my decision I was even more nervous! Vietnam so far had given us the mindset that everyone here is trying to rip you off and $110 is a lot! Not a lot at all for back home but here that would pay for our accomodation and food, plus extras, for about a week!! As soon as she measured me up she marched us to the ATM to pay for half upfront which started to make us worry as she had been so nice and shy earlier - it was like Jekyl and Hyde!

All this stress meant one thing... time for food! So we went back to Cafe 96 and ate lunch whilst watching the cooking classes being taught. We wandered around the old time some more, still finding little streets that we hadn't even noticed yesterday then headed to scout out the local staion to get to Danang airport. When we got there, locals came running up to us straight away. We know the ticket price is 10, 000 dong but staright away we were quoted 30,000 each. When we laughed and said we knew that the price shoudl be 10,000 they amde up some excuse that this was a child's price and just walked off. It's not even a mtter of the money that we keep getting so frustrated by this, it's the constant rudeness and feeling unwelcome. We try to laugh it off now and it is getting easier but it seems a shame that the Vietnamese are like this when their country (and the good people you meet) have so much to offer.

Again, all this stress caused for...food! It demanded a trip to the Cargo Club where I had the most amazing chocoloate cake I have ever tasted. I know it seems daft to be writing about a chocolate cake when there is so much more to tell you all about, but it's more for my benefit than any of yours... I just want to remember it one last time....

Beer and backgammon later it was time for dinner (God, it sounds like all we do is eat!) On our way out of a bar we bumped into Adam and Sarah again and were taking for so long that by the time we got to the restauran, Dac Lan Hoi, they said they weren't serving food anymore! Lee's smile won him another South East Asian admirer and me an open kitchen! We had the set menu for 40,000 dong where we could choose 6 dishes and they were so tasty! Some sort of pancakes came with all different things to put inside and rice paper to wrap everything up in, we didn't have a clue how to do it all so Lee's new admirer came over to shoe us how to prepare everything. I had our book out and was trying to learn some basic Vietnamese but I must have been saying things completely wrong as one of the waitresses started laughing and came over to teach me how to say things properly!

On to 'Before and Now' for the Carling Cup Final to keep Lee's addiciton topped up and it was another great day.

Hoi An in the Sun! Yey!

wahoo the sun came out! If we thought Hoi An was pretty in the rain, in the sun it was spectacular. All the poncho vendors from the past 2 days had suddenly swapped to sunglasses and fruit juice! To make it all perfect we went to the tailors for my first fitting and the clothes looked great. There were a few alterations needed but otherwise I was very happy, and relieved. As we were wandering around the streets we stumbled across a primary school where all the children were up on a stage singing, dancing and putting on a little show for passers by. They were adorable and so funny to watch. One little lad was shouting down the microphone at the top of his voice so they had to take the mic off him!!!

We wandered trhough the market and came across all the food vendors. One cuaght our eye and for some reason we thought, hey why not?! Flies and dirt never hurt anyone right? And where's the fun in eating meat that you know which animal it came from?! So we sat down on this plank of wood, whilst this woman threw all sorts on our plates and had brunch. Whatever it was, it was really tasty but again, we defiantely had 'tourist tax' added on to he price. It ended up being more expensive than eating in Cafe 96 but we were pleased with ourselves for the experience!

We walked along the river, watching as boats passed under the bridges that nearly hugged the river as it was! The passengers literally had to lie on their packs to let the boat pass under the bridge! You can pay about $5 per person for a ticket that allows you to go into some of the old buildings around town but we were quite happy just wandering about, taking everything in in the sunshine, playing backgammon on cafe verandas and indulging in ice cream and cakes!

Back to the tailors to try on the finished product and I was happy! The suit jacket and trousers are great and whilst there are a few imperfections on the skirt and dress it was of good standard (although it hasn't been worn of washed yet which will be the final test!)

We went for a celebration drink in 'Before and Now' which ended up to be a few drinks as we met two Scottish lads whilst playing pool. We were the only 4 in the place and as we walked out to head for dinner we thought of nothing else other than what should be order for dinner? We ended up finally sitting down and having dinner with Adam and Sarah as they were in the same restaurant and then headed back to before and Now for a drink. We just thought the staff had remembered us from earlier when they cam running up to take our order when in actual fact, it was because we had left earlier without paying and the poor girl was just so relieved we had come back! I have never been so embarrassed in my whole life! The staff were really nice about it all but it took my face a while to go back to it's usual shade!

Ah well! We got our arses kicked by Adam and Sarah at table football, finally swapped details and headed back to our guesthouse ready to try the local bus again to Danang airport in the morning. Booking a taxi would just be too easy!!!