Day 16 Hoi An.

Happy Easter everyone! As I type this I am watching the sun rise gently in an azure sky whilst sat outside our garden room, on a whicker chair, gazing across manicured lawns to the infinity swimming pool. In the distance I can see the tops of the the coconut matted roofs of the beach parasols beckoning to the onrushing waves. Now this is the way to spend Easter! (I'll stop waxing lyrical at this point before we loose all our friends to jealousy).

Our hotel had clearly had advance news of the type of person they were expecting though! On checking in, we were allocated a smashing room but try to guess what room number? A few clues....think George Orwell...think 1984...yes you've guessed it, room 101 - the room where they put all those undesirable items!

Hoi An is famous for its silk and its tailors. They claim to be able to reproduce any garment merely by looking at it and assessing the size of the person visually. Before we arrived at the hotel we were taken to one of these shops, where we were both measured for a shirt and blouse each, in a material we had selected, all to be made and collected 24 hours later! We were to some extent given the 'bums rush' but ,hey $53 dollars for 2 made to measure garments, what the hell! We probably would have done it whilst here anyway! Although, when we collect them later today, I am expecting to be told that they need to charge more for making a garment for someone of such a weird shape or that they didn't have enough material for someone of my size and have substituted a cheaper fabric!

Last night we had probably our meal of the trip, certainly the best value meal. My hours of research (nay days or even months of research!) had come up trumps. I had read that directly opposite the hotel was a small local restaurant, Ha Nhi's, where the food was cheap yet 'to die for'. So we plumped for it ( we certainly were 'plump' when we were done.) The food was excellent, so delicately flavoured. We had fried prawn wantons with sweet chilli topping as a starter, Julie had fish ( yet another unidentified but different fish), steamed in banana leaves with rice, Andy had Cao Lao which is a local dish of pork, noodles, small prawn crackers and handfuls of mint and coriander. For dessert Julie had a plate of mango, banana and pineapple - so sweet, juicy and luscious. For dessert I had another beer - also so sweet, juicy and luscious.

This morning we decided to avail ourselves of the hotel facilities so, after breakfast on the hotel veranda, we spotted a lounger with our names on. Now lounger is hardly an appropriate name. This lounger was the size of a king sized bed, with scatter cushions and its own canopy. So we sprawled out like beached whales, whilst Julie got her nose into her latest book ('Still Alice' - a riveting if very sad read says Julie, the book critic) and I caught up on the Oldham vs City reports on tintetnet.

After a full mornings rest (I had warned Julie that she needs to acclimatise her body to rest otherwise a full days rest could send her body into sudden arrest), we headed into Hoi An (a short taxi ride) for our lunchtime dining destination. Hoi An is famous for its 'Banh mi' which is broadly just a Bagette - no doubt a legacy from the French occupation. However, the 'Banh Mi queen' in a small local shop serves up a number of variations that people come for miles to taste.

Julie went for a conservative Banh mi with cucumber and pork, whereas Andy chanced a Bahn mi with pork, ham and other unrecognisable meat with pate, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fish sauce and what looked like Castrol gtx - gorgeous!

We had made the mistake of coming into town at the heat of the day so we decided that a 'RnR' was the aim of our 5 days that we would collect our made to measure purchases and return to the hotel. We will visit Hoi An in the morning when it will be 10 degrees cooler at 85 degrees.

So arriving back our hotel, we tried on our shirt/blouse and they fitted us both perfectly. We really look the bees knees. So we retired once more to the pool again (I think the lifeguard thought the second tide had washed up two more beached whales).

Tonight we headed across the road to have dinner at the same restaurant. Again the meal was fabulous although different ( I had tiger beer tonight whereas last night I had '333' beer!). We also paid and collected our laundry at the same time - I know how to treat a lady ...a meal and clean smalls all at the same time!

I like this restaurant! A vietnamese lady told me I was handsome, was very happy and looked very young. It was purely coincidental that she was trying to sell us a bangle at the same time. Julie reckons she should have gone to specsavers!

So home to bed - this RnR is exhausting..