Têt in the Land of lanterns

Hoi An was a beautiful place. A river ran through the old quarter filled with old wooden boats and people offering you hour boat rides. The cutest wrinkled old ladies in triangle bamboo hats sold fruit from their baskets. Mopeds and motorbikes still whizz and beebed past you like Hanoi but it was a much quainter calmer place to stroll around. With massive French influenced buildings and a fantastic cafe and restaurant culture. I had the best food in Vietnam in Hoi An. We tended to stick where we knew was excellent and two particular places we ate a lot were both Ms Vye restaurants, Morning Glory (restaurant in the lanes with part of the food made in the centre of the restaurant, quaint dark and romantic) and The Market (big open space with long wagamama style seating and the food prepared around the edges of the big clean room in side kitchens you can see into). Beautiful Hoi An specialties like white rose dumplings, light and tasty, crispy dried garlic added texture and a chilli vinegar dip made the perfect sharing starter. We tried lots of dishes while there but another favourite was squid stuffed with shrimp and pork, a taste sensation from The Market.

Têt is an exciting time to be in Vietnam, everyone was preparing for the Lunar new year, buying lots of food for the four day festivities. It meant the day we arrived the market was so busy and after then a lot of places closed for the four day holiday. Meaning Josh had to wait to get his suit made and I decided not to get anything made. There was a good night life in Hoi An for a small place. We spent most of our drinking evenings in The Meet Market (a bar on the other side of the river over the beautifully lit up bridge). We me Claudia, Alec, Geordie (Elle) and Emma (swede) there. Charly and Jon met us for a little while to! We had a drunken night drinking 241 long island ice teas, getting me absolutely wrecked! I thought I was going to be sick and needed food so went to a bakery where they where cooking bread but it was only dough they had just put in the oven (needed some SSS chicken). I managed to get a bowl of rice off the man asleep in the reception of our hotel.

An Bang beach wasn't far from the old quarter (45 minute walk) and was lovely and only 30,000 to rent a sun lounger for a day. I spent my hangover there.

Têt eve we went for a big meal at Morning Glory and then back to Meet Market in preparation for the fireworks. Met Emma and Geordie who had been in a moped accident. They were ok but Emma had the biggest gash on her leg from the wheel spinning. It looked like it had taken 4 layers of skin off, made me cringe! She seemed well and not in pain but definitely the wound needed to be seen to! At 11:57 it started to bucket down and at 12am the fireworks began. Standing in the rain and getting soaked we watched some of the best fireworks I've seen. It was a great moment wishing all our new travelling friends a happy new year! Loved being part of the celebration! We dried off dancing the night away and watching a 2 year old girl do the Gangnam Style dance, it was adorable but crazy that she was in a bar with her dad she must of thought why am I surrounded by drunk backpackers!

Hoi An was a great place to have some down time in our hotel room. Watch some TV and relax from the travelling. We went for a lovely relaxing boat ride in the sun, strolls and quiet nights playing pool in teams Neil & I, Josh & Luke and Charly & Jon (easiest people to get on with and great fun).