Our final day in Hanoi was spent getting up early to go and see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, we queued up for ages to wander past the old leader who is kept in a glass cabinet. It was really quite strange and the view from in front of him was crazy - on the white marble wall behind him there were 2 wide red marble strips with the star from the Vietnam flag and the hammer and sickle - the sign of communism. I found this image to be amazing whereas Sarah didn't notice it, she was probably more worried about the scary looking guards in the mausoleum.We feel sorry for the poor guy though lying there for eternity when apparently his dying wish was to be cremated and scattered throughout Vietnam! We then spent all afternoon on the internet trying to get Glastonbury tickets, eventually Jess who was in England got them for us, so we were thrilled!!

We travelled on the night bus to Hoi An which was very strange - it was split into thirds widthways with 2 levels of bunks, some of them very small. We managed to get the last 2 that were just about big enough, some others looked horribly uncomfortable, especially one poor guy from London who was well over 6ft, he couldn't een sit in his bunk!It was pretty bizarre although we did manage a good nights sleep. We stopped briefly in Hue and could have stayed there for the day but decided to carry on straight away for the extra 4 hours to Hoi An.

The first thing we noticed on arriving in Hoi An was the heat, Hanoi had been really grey, wet and cold yet here it was above 30oC! The first thing we did was to jump into the hotel's pool, a luxury that we have not had for a while!Hotels in Vietnam are very posh, not like backpacker places at all which is a welcome break to get the luxury and cheap prices!

After the swim we decided to go out and look for a good tailor, Hoi Anis famous for its 200 or so custom tailor shops. We found one that came highly reccommended and picked out what we liked before being measured up. We then celebrated this with the 'all night' happy hour that we managed to blag in the bar/restaurant next door!

We ended up having a good few drinks with Charlie and Ruth (a Kiwi couple) and Mike (Oz) and his girlfriend Layla (Finland). The drinks were going down so well, we made friends with the bar staff and Mike got the boys a round of snake whiskey (a local firewater that sits in a jar full of dead snakes and in this case a dead rat!)Then to make it fair the girls had to have one too!It was gross, you have to drink it like tequila.The result was we were all pretty hammered and since we couldn't find a nightclub, we all went back and jumped into the hotel pool and got a telling off from the security guard! We finished off the night by raiding the minibar (that's the trouble with staying in hotels) and the party continued well into the night!

We woke late the next day which was good because our second fitting wasn't until early afternoon, the tailors were unbelievable all the stuff was ready to try on, very quick turnaround, even if it wasn't completely perfect first time! It really is a crazy place you can have just about anything you want made up but we think it is best to tick with simple tailored clothes if you want it to be done really well!We only wish we had come here a bit more prepared for what we actually wanted as it is hard to decide once you are here!

Straight after this we went straight to another tailor so Sarah and Ruth could both get the same dress they had seen made!! I got suckered into buying a couple of shirts too! After this we went to get feet measured and have shoes made too!

After a couple of days we had been back to all the places at least once to get things slightly changed and make sure we got value for money! In total Sarah got; a 3 piece suit, a winter coat, 2 dresses, 2 shirts and 3 pairs of shoes. Not wanting to be outdone I got a winter coat, a jacket, a pair of trousers, 2 shirts and 3 pairs of shoes - it is sad to say that we are both ready for work now!

Also in Hoi An we looked around the historic old town full of colonial charm, unfortunately this was somewhat rushed as we squeezed it in betweeen fittings and whilst trying to keep out of the scorching heat!It is a beautiful town though, especially the narrow streets and the old Japanese Covered Bridge and the river to walk along.

We have also had some excellent local food, a dish called Cao Lao was absolutely superb, really delicious and the water to make it has to come from a well within Hoi An so it the only place you can get the authentic stuff!I am also loving the coffee, it was also very good in Laos but here they bring in to you in a little perculator so you can add as much hot water as you want and then chose to add either fresh milk, condensed milk or ice cubes!!!

Our last morning was spent collecting the rest of our clothes/shoes, buying some knock off DVD's and then waiting for the postman to come with his boxes, we ended up posting 14 kg home - sorry Elaine we must be clogging up your house with parcels! There was also a powercut all morning, the main grid was off so we couldn't do the website, frustrating as we had some time to kill.

Next stop is Nha Trang - full of beaches, it'll be nice to chill for a few days after all the running about we have been doing (if only we had picked tailors and cobblers on the same side of town!)

Lots of Love

A&S xxxx