Bus reached Hoi An bus station as the sun was setting so the heat had
eased. Helpful woman told us to ignore the moto drivers and walk into town as it's really near. It was really near.
Looked at one hotel but the price was not right so ended up in a little
restaurant with a room for rent. Not great but Claire, with her new found haggling excellence, got the girl down to a cheap price.
Wandered into the old town and realised that Hoi An is a little gem of a place. All the buildings look really old, all wooden and authentic.
There is classical music playing everywhere and no traffic other than bicycles.
As this is the place for tailored clothes the second day involved
sorting Claire out with a new coat for the winter in Melbourne. I did
kind of want a ridiculous suit but the prices were too much really even after some hard haggling.
Claire managed to get a very nice tailored coat for $30 down from a
starting price of $120 and a fitted skirt for $10 down from $40. They
got made overnight and we collected them the morning after.
Hired yet more bicycles and headed to the beaches. First though we
needed to post the coat to Australia. If the coat was cheap, the postage certainly wasn't. It cost more than the actual coat to post! $45 lighter, we headed to the first beach.
Bumped into a couple we met
in Ko Tao whilst doing our diving course. The beach was nice but not
great so we headed further North to a much nicer and deserted beach.
Swam for a bit but feared jellyfish so got out and had a posh pizza at
a beachside restaurant. Best pizza so far.
Rode bikes back into town and found a little boat bar. The owner had a guitar so I strummed my way through a couple of Bia Saigons with the owner and his daughter a captive audience. The guy then had a strum as the sun set over the pretty river. Nice and chilled out atmosphere indeed.
As we were about to leave, Malek and Ulrika (who we met in Halong Bay) came onto the boat. Small world. Had a beer with them and arranged to meet up for dinner.
Had tasty dinner of local speciality, Cao Lao, and then headed to a
nearby island to a late night party bar offering free buckets on entry.
This place was fun. A little dive but free drinks were honoured and we
could queue music up on youtube. The swedish teenagers kept skipping our tracks for their eurotrash bullshit which was a
tad annoying. Malek cut his foot on some glass but partied on.
Played pool with some chavs from London. Me and a guy called John
formed the J team and we kicked ass. Got a blister on my left hand as the humidity and pool cues did not mix so well.
Walked home as the sun was rising and slept in until the afternoon. Booked sleeper bus with Sinh Cafe travel who had good reviews and
spent the rest of the time relaxing with a few glasses of ludicrously
cheap Bia Hoi.
Bus arrived at 6pm so played cards in the restaurant we were staying
at but the girl told us we couldn't wait there. Not sure what her
problem was really as we were having a few beers so were paying customers.
Got on bus and waved goodbye to Hoi An.
Hoi An has a lot to offer. Beaches are good, old town is beautiful and
the clothes shopping is fun. It's quite touristy but you can
see why. A quaint and pretty little place.
Next up, Nha Trang, Vietnam's beach.
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