The journey from Quy Nhon to Hoi An was fairly uneventful, made more interesting by a Vietnamese student who kept passing us notes on the bus written in english as he was too shy to actually speak to us! He then seemed to become travel sick from all of the writing so I felt a little bad.

As soon as we arrived in Hoi An we both fell for its charms immediately. Listed as a World Heritage site, this small riverside town had narrow streets lined with pretty yellow buildings and colourful lanterns. Most of the Old Quarter was pedestrianised which gave us a rest from constantly avoiding motorcycles! As if the charm of the town wasn't enough, we managed to get a bargainous room at a guesthouse that had a swimming pool...luxury!

On our first day, we bought a ticket which allowed us to visit 5 of the preserved buildings in the Old Quarter. Our first stop was Tran Family House, where our guide told us about the history of the family and architecture of the house. The whole of the rear of the house seemed to have been converted into a large gift shop which didnt seem very traditional but perhaps more modern Vietnamese! From there we went to the Museum of Ceramics, which was a little disappointing (probably due to our lack of interest in old pots) but a nice building all the same. Our last major stop was the Chinese Meeting House which was very impressive, featuring a series of ornate gates leading through to a huge Pagoda which was filled with conical incense sticks hanging from the ceiling. Later in the day we also visited the small temple of Quan Gong and the Japanese Covered Bridge. We were also 'treated' to a Cultural Performance in the early evening, which involved lots of over-dramatic wailing and heartbreak due to a lost pearl?!

The next day we hired a bike and rode out to the Marble Mountains, which are unsurprisingly some mountains made of marble! The main mountain was really impressive with lots of caves to explore, many of which contained huge marble sculptures and shrines. As we were there at midday, the sunlight streamed down through the cracks making for some fun "Beam-me-up" photo opportunites! After some lunch we headed to China Beach, which American soldiers used as a place for R&R during the war. The beach was really beautiful and completely deserted on the stretch we visited. Too hot to sunbathe though! On our way back to Hoi An, we made a final stop at Cua Dai beach for a rest under the palm trees.

Our final day in Hoi An was spent relaxing in the pool and doing some shopping in the many gift shops of the Old Quarter. Hoi An specialises in tailored outfits, including shoes so we both indulged in some made-to-measure sandals! The measuring part basically involved having our feet traced onto a sheet of paper, but they seemed to do a fairly decent job.

- S