So the night bus experience... well it was quite something! Not anywhere near as bad as the Indian sleeper train but not all together that pleasant. Firstly, someone very close to us kept breaking wind and had clearly eaten something that did not agree with them so that was vile! The bus was also in dire need of new break pads so every time the driver put on the brakes (pretty much once every 2-5 minutes), the brakes let off an almighty high pitch screech which as you can imagine, is not ideal when you're trying to sleep!

Any who, we finally arrived 11 hours later in Hoi An! It was 5.30am when we arrived and still pitch black. There weren't many taxis about but a few motorbikes offering to take people to their hotels. We knew we weren't far but we were both knackered and didn't know where the hostel was exactly. One guy offered to take us both plus our four huge bags onto his one motorbike which we thought was absolutely crazy... but apparently possible! How we managed to even get going is still a mystery but the three of us and all our luggage made it in one piece 10 minutes later at our hostel, Basil Homestay. We were so tired and just wanted to sleep but obviously our rooms weren't yet available. Luckily, they had a huge soft sofa in the main reception which the owner kindly let us sleep on and lent us some blankets!

After actually a good few hours of sleep on this giant sofa, we felt refreshed enough to head out for the day. First we handed over 4kgs of washing, for some sad reason, I always love a laundry day! Our room was amazing, the nicest yet with a very modern and clean ensuite bathroom. It was a dormitory room but I had a double bed to myself... winning! The hostel was a 45 minute walk away from the ancient town of Hoi An, but luckily they had free bikes for anyone to use so we packed up a day bag and cycled 20 minutes into the town. I'd heard a lot about Hoi An, all good things, so I was initially surprised as I didn't think much of it... until we finally reached the ancient part!

The ancient town was absolutely stunning and definitely deserves being a UNESCO world heritage site. The architecture of small, yellow, ancient buildings had a Japanese/Mediterranean feel about it! That's one of the main things I've loved about Vietnam, it has such strong multicultural influences. We walked around exploring the streets which were like a little maze. There were lots and lots of cute little coffee shops and tailors. We had both heard that Hoi An was the place to have clothes made so while we were here, we were keen to get involved. I'd done quite a bit of research online about where to go for this as originally there was only a few tailors in Hoi An, but then others jumped on the bandwagon and now there are fakes everywhere. I managed to find the shop I had been looking for, The 5 Seasons, and took my time ordering a pair of travel trousers exactly how I wanted them, I even had a picture from Pinterest ready. It came to $20 which was pricey, but I didn't mind if they were good!

As it was Valentine's Day, we decided to have a nice meal out followed by a glass of wine at a very posh looking wine bar we spotted! Unfortunately, our choice in restaurant was pretty poor as it took over an hour to come and when it did, it was vile! Neither of us could eat our meal, so paid what we owed and slyly shuffled out of the restaurant. We made up for it in a patisserie we found over looking the gorgeous Thu Bon River, in which we shared three cakes!

During that evening, Matt bought me a single red rose and a cheesy gold heart shaped helium balloon which was actually really sweet, I had lots of comments about them too! We finished off the evening with a glass of wine in the posh GAM Gemstones wine bar. Out the back was an area with a natural looking stone wall with a trickling waterfall and tree vines hanging from the open roof above, it was gorgeous. The best part of the wine bar was the upstairs which had the most incredible view of the river and all the surrounding buildings lit up with hundreds of Japanese lanterns, it was actually really romantic and such a lovely way to spend our Valentine's evening!

That night, we cycled back to the hostel in the dark (definitely not recommended in Vietnam) and arrived back at the homestay in the hope of grabbing a light dinner. The owner, probably the sweetest guy ever, offered us to eat with his family which we loved. However, they had prepared the biggest meal and every time our bowls got to the bottom, they kept filling them back up again which normally would be lovely but neither of us were that hungry and the Vietnamese get very offended if you don't finish your meal. Matt had to practically fight the owners wife off when she came at him with more rice noodles. None the less, it was a lovely meal and very kind of them so we're very grateful... and full!

The next day we headed to the Marble Mountains which are a cluster of 5 marble and limestone hills. Each Hills represents a different element; water, fire, metal, earth and wood. It was quite a climb to the top but the views were incredible, I was surprised at how much there was to see at the top and it was definitely worth the visit.

That afternoon, we cycled back to Hoi An ancient town. We visited the 18th century Japanese covered bridge which is iconic in Hoi An and booked a cookery class for the next morning. Hoi An also has an over whelming about of these too so again, we did our research and picked one that looked good but also wasn't too expensive! Matt was keen to have a funky blazer made so we found a little tailors with the material he wanted. It took a while to barter the price but the material was quite unique so naturally it was expensive. It came to $50 to have it tailor made which was about £44, this would be at least £130 plus in the UK so we were pretty pleased with that. I checked the fitting on my trousers (which looked awesome) and had some minor adjustments made. We found a little Italian restaurant along the front that overlooked the river for dinner which was amazing. Another busy and exciting day in Hoi An!

Our cookery class the next morning was awesome! We first headed to the local market with our cookery teacher, Hip, and he told us all about how the Vietnamese buy their daily produce. We finished the tour with an iced coffee in a locals cafe which was pretty cool. During our class, we cooked Vietnamese pork pancakes, pork spring rolls, Mango salad, and coconut and lemongrass chicken curry which was my personal favourite! It had been such a great experience learning how to cook in Vietnamese style although I have to say I'm not sure I would make it at home... not a fan of the fish and oyster sauce!

We picked up Matts blazer which looked AWESOME but needed some minor adjustments also so while we waited we headed to a cafe called Reaching Out, a quiet little tea house and courtyard that serves Vietnamese tea and biscuits. These were served by locals with hearing impairments, and the tea pots and cups were all made by disabled artisans. The aim of the cafe is to provide employment and empowerment to disabled locals. I know a bit of sign language but it wasn't really needed, just enough to order and say please and thank you. It was actually one of the nicest cafes we had been to in Hoi An.

That evening, we caught a local bus to Da Nang where we were staying that night. The hostel was perfect for what we needed. I found a nice restaurant on trip advisor for dinner and after the chap mixing up the order accidentally, we ended up with three lasagnes... score! I had absolutely loved our three day stay in Hoi An, in fact it was probably one of my favourite places in south east Asia! I would love to go back in the future!