Hoi An, Nhatrang and Da Lat (7/2 to 16/2) On leaving Hanoi we decided to splash out on a flight to Hoi An to avoid the 13 hour bus/train journey. Probably wont be flying too often though because it makes it a little too easy to blow the budget. Hoi An was a bit of a shoppers paradise set alongside a river, packed full of tailors offering to make suits, shirts, jackets and shoes etc in just 2 days. When we weren't getting measured up at the tailors we spent our time playing pool in the bars. On the first evening after a few drinks, we were locked in battle with the Aussies (Bonnie and David) at the pool table. A few tense games were played out with national pride at stake. Australia eager to avenge its ashes defeat. In the end me and rich dished out a beating 5 -3 it finished and "pomme Law" was declared in the bar. We spent the next two days relaxing in bars. One evening while enjoying a drink by the river me and rich were the subject of an arranged marriage to the owners daughter. When asked which one of us she preferred the 18 year old vietnamese girl replyed, "not him, he's too tall". I'll get over it, she was a bit of a hound anyway. We left Hoi An on an overnight bus to Nhatrang. After a much better journey than I had expected we arrived at 6am. After inspecting about 15 hotels we eventually decided on one about 50m from the beach. After a few more hours sleep we headed down to the beach to show off our tans, two pristine white bodies strolled onto the white sands. It was clear that we did not have the correct gear for the beach and that a sarong was necessary. Dont think blokes wearing sarongs has quite taken off in Vietnam yet, (not what the guidebook said) but it makes a handy beach towel for lying on. The next day we headed off on a trip to the mud baths and hot springs. This involved sitting in a pool of mud for 15 minutes then standing in the sun until the mud dried onto your skin. Once it had dried on you washed it off in the shower and finished off relaxing in a hot spring or 40 minutes. Very relaxing and good for the skin apparently. While in a relaxing mood we decided to finish off the afternoon with a 45 min massage. Spent the last day in Nhatrang on the beach, and sampling a few cocktail buckets. We left Nhatrang after 3 days and caught a 6 hour bus to Da Lat in the central highlands. We only spent 2 nights in Da lat as we were begining to realise we were running out of time on our visas. There isn't much in Da Lat itself, a market, and a few restaurants thats about it. Indeed most toursits, as we had, don't go to Da Lat for the toan, they go for the treking and mountain biking in the mountains. After spending a few hours touring the travellers cafes we settled on a day treking. It turned out to be quite a hard day, the it was very hot, and the 20kms of treking, we'd agreed to the day before suddenly looked like a very long way.