Was a bit overcast when we woke up this morning and hasnt really got much better all day! Had the mosquito net which was over the bed on last night as they seemed to be out in force, didnt get bitten anymore so it must have worked! Leisurely got ready and set out in search of breakfast. Stopped at a cafe a little way down the street and had ham ommlette with french stick and, of all things, a cheese triangle. But i have to say it was so tasty i even ventured to say it was the best breakfast yet! Also had lemon juice, which was pure lemon juice... dont know what we were expecting but it wasnt that!

Walking into Hoi An town, there is an old and a new part and the old part is an INESCO world heritage site, you have to buy a ticket to go into certain temples and houses, but we didnt really feel the need, you can see in from outside and all the shops are also in the old building so you can get a feel of what they are like.

Claire decided to get herself a dress made and we both fell for one in one of the very many tailor's shops. She tried it on and the lady took measurements, she chose a red brushed silk fabric, we are both looking forward to going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon, we are pleasantly suprised about the price of tailormade clothes, Claires dress was just under $20. We visited a few art galleries and i fell for some of the simply black and white paintings on rice paper. I bought 3 of a similar size to frame of typical vietnamese scenes. Also bought a clay whistle with the change from what i bartered the lady down for with the pictures! We walked through the market and Claire bought chopsticks from a very insistant woman and i bartered down a cotton pashmina/scarf from 120,000 to 60,000 VND. I have worn it tonight as it was raining... boo. We came back to the hotel and spent some time putting photos on blog and Claire on facebook.

Got ready and went back out to get something to eat, ended up at a restaurant that we had lunch in the other day. They had 6 set menus for 82,000 so i had number 2 and Claire had number 6 and we shared both. To start we had the 'White Roses' which are dumplings, not pancakes like i said yesterday, then fried wanton with an absolutely gorgeous sauce. Next was steamed rice, beef and sweet and sour sauce and pork with cashew nuts and some spring rolls. Then we finished off with tropical fruit salad. It was really nice and the place was busy, though not with locals!

Tonight there was something going on in town, not sure what yet, maybe some kind of lunar festival... a lot of shops had little alters out front and were burning incense and had offerings of drinks and food and fake money and sweets which they scattered about and burnt! So thats was interesting, then there were demos of martial arts and a little traditional band playing.

Hoi An is very dark on a night, they dont have street lights, just a few lanterns so that does make it quite pretty. The river had flooded tonight, we made a comment earlier how high it seemed to the quay and then tonight it had cut off a road! Dont know what the market does, its right on the waters edge.

Back now and hoping for a little more sun tomorrow! It hasnt been cold today but without the sun it has been 'fresher' than what we are used to, but we also have to get used to the cold, we looked at Mongolia weather today and it is -18 at the moment!!!

Time for bed now, hope everyone is well at home XXX