We arrived in Hoi An at about 2pm and checked into Green Field Hotel. It was a little bit more expensive as the dorms were full but we had aircon and a bath, oh and swans on the bed so James was happy. We also had a pool and an hour of free cocktails at 6.30 so not a bad place to stay. This is famous for its tailers and dress makers and there are over 200 in such a small town. As soon as we were changed we went of in hunt for the best deals to get the suits and dresses made. Adam ordered his that night however James was a bit apprehensive at first becuase of money but they really did look nice. We went into the town in search of a dres but nothing stood out straight away so i decided to wait till the following day. Eventually I found a lady that said to get a picture off the internet and she would make that.

The Old town is beautifull. All the buildings are French Colonial, it really does feel like were in Europe rather than vietnam.The buildings are covered in lanterns so at night it looks gorgeous when there all lit up. We walked down to the river and found a little restuarant called Tham Long and sat up on the balcony over looking the river. There we tried White Rose, a local dish of fried wantons stuffed with shrimp which was really nice. Unnfortunatly this was the first time we had seen dog on the menu so it kind of put me off my food at first but it was really nice in the end.

We all went back to the room pretty early as we planned to have a full day out and about. This went a little bit to pot as it took me ages to sort my dress and then james was umming and aaahing about his suit. In the end we both ended up choosing something we really liked.

We finaly had them all sorted the following morning after double checking measurements ect so we hired scooters and headed off to Marble Mountain in Danang, about a 30 minute drive out of Hoi An. We parked up and got our tickets and thank goodness there was actualy a lift that took you to the top of the mountain rather than another hurrendous trek. We didnt expect there to be much at the top but there were all sorts of temples and caves, the best part was a huge cave with a huge Buddha statue carved out of the rock. It looked like something out of Tomb Raider. We spent about an hour exploring before deciding to hit the beach.

According to the lonely planet china beach is the place to be however no one seemed to be able to tell us where it was, pointing us back and forth in different directions. Eventually one guy said it is now Danang beach and that it had changed its name from China beach in the 1970's. In the end we gave up and drove through some 5 star resort and used their beach. The beach is 30kms long and is such a nice beach, perfect sand and clear water stratching for miles. In the distance you can see the centre of Danag which looked to be where the touristy bit was but there was no one where we were. Me and Adam decided we'd reinact Friends and turn James into a mermaid. After an hour on the beach the clouds got a bit black so we set off just incase it started to rain.

When we got back we got showered and ready to go get the boys suits to check for alterations. They both looked really smart, I unnfortuantly couldnt get my dress as the woman had forgotten to ask me which way I wanted the pattern so had to wait till the next day.

We were all craving a curry tonight so we walked to find the one recomended in the lonely planet. Before we found that one we came across a really busy Indian called Ganesh. The food looked good and a few americans were walking out and said they loved it. Just our luck though some really old Vietnames guy was sat across from us and started choking on his food making the moSt hideous noises which was really making everyone feel a little put off. This would of been ok until next thing he threw up on his plate, cleared his throat and continued to eat hs plate full of food/sick. Even writing this now turns my stomach. We were about to leave to go somewhere else but thankfully they left first.

The curry was no Sammy's we were are both craving but it did the job. From here we walked down the the Japanese bridge and through the market place before going for a drink. We left this decisions to Adam...bad move, he took us into this really fancy looking bar as he really wanted a cocktail, James mouth nearly hit the floor when he saw it was 45,000 dong for a can of coke (usually about 6,000 dong) we didnt stay very long.

We decided again to have an early night in preparation for Nah Trang but ended up watching films all night.

Oh and I have to mention James foot. He fell out of the ring in the waterpark in Hanoi and has a very small tiny little cut on his toe, however he is assured that he foots is going to fall off. Me and Adam have had days of entertainment at his constant whinging and plee's for piggy backs and trips to the hospital just incase of gangreen. He has even skyped Danielle and his Mum for sympathy but no luck so far.

Today has been a bad day, first of all we realised when booking the bus for today to Nah Trang last night we have lost one of the bus tickets. Secondly my dress was a nightmare, as it is custom made, the design I had chosen was a little harder to do in such short time so I had to sit and wait for an hour and a half while the tried to get it right. In the end after all the stress of the moring I ended up in tears with no dress.

in teh time I waited though it was amazing to see how talented the woman were and the hurrendous conditions they worked in. It was a shed like room no larger than my kitchen in which about 5 or 6 woman at a time sat engrosed in their sewing machines, there was material all over the floor and at times the woman would walk over to it, grab it with their foot and then go back and start frantically working away on their next garment. It really was an intersting hour even though I was so annoyed.

Eventualy I went back to the shop and and told them how long we had before we left for the bus.

THEY PULLED IT OUT OF THE BAG!!!!!!! The dress is beautifull and fits perfectly. Thu pronounded TOO, the name of the lady that owned the shop was so apologetic and her daughter was so lovely I sat with them for a while chatting after we had sorted my dress. Her daughter Thu (but pronounced differently (means Autum in England) ) asked me if I would help her with English over email as she is training to become a teacher. I also ended up buying another dress from them too so cant wait to go somewhere nice to where my tailer made one, The other one is more for the beach.

So that is our day so far, we have spent the afternoon by the pool and are just waiting to go get the bus to Nah Trang. Another 10 hour trip Yipeee.