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Vietnam – Hoi An
24th Saturday October
We finally arrived in Hoi An at 7am…13 hours later!!! Got dropped off outside the town, so off we went to find our hostel. On the way being hassled by many men on their motorbikes, 20 mins later we checked in to Dai Long Hotel. A huge room consisting of 2 double beds…bonus. The room also had a balcony and a very nice bathroom…very good for the price of it!
Once we freshened up we found a little café called BoBo’s. Ryan tucked into his first Vietnam pancake and I had poached eggs on toast! They love their eggs in this country….every meal includes them! After breakfast we explored the old town of Hoi An, a listed ancient heritage site, so was motorbike free!! It was heaven. Set on the Thu Bon River, Hoi An was an international trading port as far back as the 17th century. The town has different features from the Japanese, Chinese and Europeans. We had to pay an admission fee to enter the old town, this helps preserve the town. Buying the ticket gives you a choice of heritage sites to visit. We visited a number of attractions, including the Japanese Covered bridge, an assembly hall for the Fujian Chinese congregation, a very old house-Tan Ky house. A lovely preserved house from the 19th century.
On our way back to the hostel we somehow got dragged into the clothes market. Some guy on his motorbike had got chatting to us in the morning, we then kept seeing him around the town, each time he would shout out our name!!! So we couldn’t avoid him, he then wanted to show us his sister’s clothes stall at the market, we tried to get out of it but all our excuses failed hehe! We then found ourselves looking through loads of clothes catalogues giving you examples of things they can make!! There we were telling ourselves we wouldn’t buy anything too getting measured up for some clothes! Ryan picked out some cargo shorts and I picked out the fabric for 2 dresses….all coming to $50. We were told to come back 4 hours later to pick them up…leaving the market we didn’t know what we were going to end up with.
While waiting for 5pm to pick our clothes up we decided to stop for something to drink. We found a nice little café on the riverside, ordered some spring rolls…now very addicted to them! Vietnam makes the nicest vegetable and pork spring rolls ever. After our little rest we had a wonder around the market and streets, the market was crazy. A local food market, sold absolutely everything you could think off…from veg to meat! We were the only white people strolling around the market so we quickly made our escape. After walking for an hour in the blazing heat we found a nice little riverside bar where we enjoyed some local beers.
5pm came and it was time to pick our clothes up! Well we were both impressed, Ryan’s shorts were fantastic. The quality was very impressive, and the material was great. My dresses fitted perfectly, both different styles. We were very happy, they still tried to get us to buy more but we were strong and said no! A woman even approached us and offered to make us some shoes….it is unbelievable. If you were here just on holiday you could spend a fortune and get a whole new wardrobe.
25th Sunday October
Our hotel didn’t serve breakfast so we headed over the road to a local café. At last I was able to have some cereal with yogurt and fresh fruit….it was such a treat!! Most mornings we have only had the choice of bread with scrambled eggs or omelet. After breakfast we went next door, where we hired some bikes for 15,000 dong each so roughly 70p! We then cycled the crazy streets (not as busy as the other towns) to the beach, took us about 20 mins. Hired some sun loungers out at the beach. The beach was lovely, very clean with white sand. Nicest beach so far, Ryan enjoyed the big waves!! The sun was so hot today though, must have been 35 degrees. I have never felt sun like it, it is very strong. Even with our high factor cream on you can feel yourself burning. Had to keep having a rest in the shade, small doses at a time. We enjoyed some nice rice and noodles on the beach before cycling back to the hotel.
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