We debarked at Da Nang station happy to be on solid ground again and met our ‘Man with the Sign’. Unless there’s great public transport (European Airport to City trains) (or non-corrupt cabs... nope... can’t think of anywhere actually), we like to treat ourselves to a private transfer after a long trip - whether by plane or train. 17 hours on the SE4 train, Saigon to Da Nang certainly counts. The fixed price transfer, even including the guesthouse markup, was less than a Grab would have been for the 50 minute trip - around 300,000 dong or US$13. It was a nice run through downtown Da Nang and out past the many 5 star beach resorts. One street we travelled along must surely be known as Monument Alley - at least 20 shops flogging religious statuary of every denomination - if ever you need a 4 metre reclining Buddha for the back yard, Da Nang is the place to get it. We were in UNESCO listed Hoi An in seemingly no time at all.

We’ve visited this town before, famous for its beautiful silk lanterns - but only for a day and off a cruise ship. We loved it then and decided we would spend a fair while here. Aside from anything else, it seems to be one of the cheapest and prettiest places in Vietnam. Speaking of cheap - and we do have to speak of it occasionally as most folks figure (mistakenly) that we’ve won lotto - we’re travelling for the next 3 months straight and have to watch the pennies with exceedingly beady eyes. So for our 3 weeks in Hoi An we planned on being very hard core and budget conscious.

With that in mind we spent our first 2 nights in a small family run guesthouse for the equivalent of €12/A$17 per night, including breakfast and it was excellent bang for buck... but the bed was just too hard, positively Asian hard - even with our 3 inches of travelling memory foam topper on top of it. So a very hard bed indeed. During our 5 weeks in Saigon we didn’t need the topper once which was amazing. Sadly, out of 2018 I think we had good beds for about 8 weeks. Woeful. But that is why we travel the world with half our wheely-packs occupied by slabs of tightly rolled memory foam. Anyway - yesterday - after 2 nights of crippling discomfort at the guesthouse, we went for a walk to consider our options... We had another 3 nights booked as a separate booking with free cancellation and then had a place out near the beach, about 6 kms away, booked for 16 nights. Plan was to go out to the beach joint and check the beds - and maybe add 3 nights to that booking, but whilst meandering we walked past a big, glorious, 4 star hotel and trundled in to inspect some rooms - just in case we could afford one. We’d already decided we didn’t really want to move out to the beach, as this neighbourhood has at least six excellent local joints where we can have an amazing dinner and drinks for around €10/A$16 between us. (The beach eateries were going to cost more than that, for sure... beach tax.) The hotel didn’t disappoint and made an excellent deal for the 19 nights - big comfy beds, big clean pool, buffet breakfast. So we farewelled ‘very hard core and budget conscious’ and entered the Asian version of splurgey-pants - all of €24/A$38 per night. We tried to be economical, we really did - but no point staying on the cheap and dragging sorry selves around in pain, grumpy and miserable all day, before laying awake all night crying into our mattresses.

So. Hoi An. The town is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site - apparently a fine example of a South East Asian trading port between the 15th and 19th century. Aside from shopping - lanterns, ceramics and el-cheapo pearls, tailor made clothes and shoes feature highly in the streets of the ancient town. Things to do (aside from read, write, edit photos and laze by the pool before trundling to dinner and having a long walk to town and back) - cooking classes. Which may well be fitted into our 3 weeks in Hoi An. Due to the multitudes of foreign influences from it’s long trading history - from Portugal to Japan and many places between, Hoi An has some specialties found no where else in Vietnam - which we will eventually get round to trying. Last night however it was Mai Tais and superb red snapper in a peppery fresh batter with fries. We usually top off dinner with a walk to and from the old town - perhaps 7 kms return along the peaceful riverfront to the frenetic Night Market. Beautiful lanterns are lit everywhere in town and the only time we suspect it will be even more stunning is during the monthly full moon festival when only lanterns and candle light are permitted. Many, many photos to come...