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Saz and Dave's travels
We woke up at about 6am on the train as we had been told by the lady who we booked the ticket with that this was the time our train got into Da Nang. However when we checked with the guard on the train we were told we weren't actually getting in til 10am so I don't know how that happened! Maybe we broke down in the night when we were all asleep! The guard brought us some free noodles for breakfast which were ok but a bit cold, then we went back to sleep for another couple of hours. None of us minded about the delay as it was pretty comfy on the train and we had all slept well - absolute luxury compared to the awful bus ride from Saigon to Nha Trang!
The train got into to Da Nang at about 10 as promised then we managed to wangle an air-conditioned mini bus all to ourselves and all the way to Hoi An (about an hour's ride) for just 2 dollars each. Half-way through the journey we picked up a lady who was a tailor in a factory in Hoi An. She made us promise to go to her factory later in the day to check out the clothes she made (oh how we stuck to that promise whether we wanted to or not!).
The taxi dropped us off at the Thanh Binh 2 hotel - where Rochelle is staying (from the cambodia trip). It's pretty nice - 12 dollars per room per night but that includes buffet breakfast and a swimming pool at the neighbouring Thanh Binh 1 hotel. After meeting up with Rochelle we went for some breakfast then off to look round town. I quickly realised that Hoi An is amazing! Everywhere you look there are clothes shops but not the normal kind that we are used to. Oh no, here they take all your measurements and make clothes to fit you - the same day! You can buy anything - tops, dresses, skirts, trousers, shoes even.
Realising that Dave was not in the mood to go shopping I left him watching formula 1 in the room and went for a swim with Rochelle in the pool - really relaxing! When I got back to the room I banged on the door and shouted for ages to no answer. I quickly got the spare key from reception thinking something may be wrong with Dave but when I got the door open he was just passed out asleep on the bed! After a shower we planned to do a bit of shopping but just as we got round the corner from our hotel the tailor woman from the minibus pulled up next to us on her motorbike. She very strongly persuaded us to go to her factory which was on the other side of town so I hopped on the back of her motorbike and Dave on another and we were whisked away. Once inside the factory we realised this was a bad idea as we were just given a pile of Next catalogues and told they could make anything for us out of the catalogue! We don't really like next in the uk and with nothing else to go on it was a bit difficult. After numerous feeble excuses we managed to leave and went for a bite to eat at a nearby cafe.
As we were sat there Alia and Leo happened to walk past which was cool and we arranged to meet up for tea. The five of us went to a restaurant on the riverside which was really cheap and really yummy. After tea Zac, Alia and Leo went to pick up some clothes the girls had ordered and we somehow lost them. Me, Dave and Rochelle wandered back and had a drink at a cafe, playing cards before heading to bed at 10pm. The reason we had to go to bed at 10 was because at this time the cafe suddenley started ruthlessly kicking people out - even though we were in the middle of a game of cards! They gave us 5 minutes to finish our drinks and leave! Very strange!
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