It was finally time to experience the night train. The train was scheduled to leave Nha Trang at 8:30pm and arrive in Danang, where we were to meet a taxi to take us to the hotel in Hoi An at 6:45am. The only way to access the platform was to walk across the tracks - a bit different to back home! We had opted for the soft sleeper cabin, which is the most 'luxurious' option. It was a tiny tiny cabin with 2 bunk beds squeezed in. While we were trying to work out how an earth we were going to climb onto the top bunks a lovely Vietnamese man who was sharing our cabin appeared and luckily he spoke good English so explained how everything worked to us. We ended up chatting to him for about 2 hours, sharing stories about our countries and experiences. He very kindly bought us, along with the other Vietnamese man in the cabin a beer and some fried squid! When the squid was brought out Kate and I were a bit apprehensive to say the least, however we politely gave it a go and it actually didn't taste as bad as it smelt.

After finally working out when to get off the train we arrived in Hoi An, a beautiful old town which is a Unesco world heritage site. We were greeted at our hotel with tea and macaroons. That day we had a wander around the old town, a very beautiful place. The town is well known for tailors so we both went and got measured up for a dress each!

Today we've been to an all day cooking class! It was a wonderful day thanks to our teacher, Van. In the morning she took us around the market and we bought all the ingredients we were to use that day. That was an interesting experience in itself, with bits of meat flying everywhere whilst it was being hacked up. She then took us (only a small group of six) back to her house to cook. We each had picked a different dish to cook. We prepared our own and then cooked them one by one, sharing them all as we went, so we ended up eating so much food! Really good to experience so many new dishes. Tomorrow we are headed for Hue.

10 days left to go!