After checking into the Sunflower Hostel, we went for a wonder to a recommended tailors, 'Peace' to have some clothes made, ate some lunch in the afternoon and then had a nap before going out for dinner with a group of people (one guy we had met in the reception area waiting to leave on the night bus at our hostel in Nha Trang - Wesley!) who was sharing a dorm with the rest of the group, Florian, Rachel, Teresa and Will. We all walked into the centre and went to a street corner type place which was really good food. Unfortunately while we were sat there it started raining heavily, thundering and lightening and a full blown storm came on which was so bad that it flooded the area we were sat eating in. After realizing this wasn't going to pass, the options were to try and find a taxi (none had been seen for hours), or buy ponchos from a Vietnamese lady which was madly driving around in this storm on her motorbike making the most of her sales opportunities with ponchos.

The group, with persuasion from Wesley, went with the option of all buying a poncho (10,000 VD each) and having the fun of an attempted 30 minute walk back in this torrential rain. This was all well and fun for about 10 minutes, until it was gradually getting worse…my poncho ripped along with my sandals being torn, and we all hastily made our way back to the hostel. I was annoyed to arrive in the reception area to find the lights were out, the floor was wet, and when I went to walk across to the toilet I went flying on a cable that was laid out right across the reception floor - no hazard signs or anything…another typical example of the laid back Vietnamese. The rest of the group we met up with had an early night, we went out to the bar area where lots of people were gathered hustled away from the rain and bumped into two of the girls we were sharing the 6 bed dorm room with, Sara and Jess from Oz. We had a bit of a chat and didn't get a late one having still been tired from the Night bus the previous evening.

The following morning the rain was still heavy, yet the four of us girls got the shuttlebus the hostel provided to the tailors to pickup our clothes/for the second fitting. Mine and Lauren's were lovely (I had a top and dress made for $70 and Lauren had a night dress, shorts and dress made for $100) which we both felt were worth the while and I only wish I had more space in my bag to have had more stuff made. The tailors even fixed my shorts for me which I broke that morning for free and sent me onto a shoe place to glue the soles of my sandals back together and pick up later that afternoon, which again was for free so I was impressed. Sara and Jess were moving on so they had left the room and we had two new girls, Sushila from Ireland and Hennica from the Netherlands who told us a few stories about them also being in situations of being conned/robbed.

We then went back to the hostel and bumped into our friends we'd been for dinner the night before with, all went for a coffee and just chilled for a bit. Lauren and I then went onto find a Spa where Jess and Sara recommended to get 2 for 1 on between 12pm-1pm so I had a manicure and pedicure done. More wondering around, munching on street food (everything is deep fried….banana fritter and doughnuts!) and more coffee and eventually the rain cleared up and we were able to walk around without ponchos on.

Later on we went for dinner at The Little Menu (recommended in lonely planet) which was the best Vietnamese food I'd had yet. We paid 10,000 VD each to float some lanterns on the river, the area around this part was beautifully lit-up at night and I loved the artwork that was being sold so took pictures for inspiration of home decor in future. When I lay my lantern I thought about my best friend Nicole who's dad has recently passed away, unfortunately my clumsiness meant I drowned the lantern which we found the funny side of, thankfully Lauren was more graceful with hers and we watched that float down the river. We then went to Moe's bar and met up with a couple of Australians we'd met back in Nha Trang and a couple of girls from our hostel. After being adamant I didn't want a night out, we went back to the hostel to find 20 odd people all about to head out in the reception area (including the group of people we'd been for dinner with the night before). With some persuasion we decided to join them all out and had a great night at Tiger Tiger and Why Not bars to get in early hours in the morning having safely walked home in a group and luckily had no problems with any sorts of robbery or gangs which we had been told about in the area.

The next day we had a flight booked to Hanoi, it wasn't an overly productive day (annoyingly all rain had now cleared and the weather was beautiful), our hangovers seemed to have got the better of us. I was that disorientated that we ended up spending half an hour at a bank after I insisted the machine had taken my pin and not given me the cash, after much fathing around (the Vietnamese are never urgent about anything), the lady kindly showed me it was my human error of not putting the pin in as the reason for the cash not coming out…….oops. Anyway we said bye to the friends we had made, Lauren even found her tattoo soul mate, Arthur, who also had a turtle on his lower leg, and we got the taxi to the airport and endured a painful few hours there as the flight was delayed. I then also left my hoody somewhere there due to more disorientation, but we did arrive in Hanoi safe.

Overall Lauren and I have agreed Hoi An is our favourite part of Vietnam so far, although the rain spoilt it a little, it was still a beautiful place which at night time was colourful and had lots of hustle and bustle. Definitely a must-do if you ever visit Vietnam.

xxx