Hoi An - Vietnam

We’re writing this blog whilst sat on an overnight bus from Hue to Hanoi. The whole night bus experience is quite interesting and not particularly relaxing as you might hope. In general the buses are great and really well designed, however the constant horn beeping from the driver (on average about 10 bpm –beeps per minute!) and slightly bumpy/winding roads doesn’t aid the sleeping process. If you’re lucky you might get a bed where you can stretch out a little, however we’re slightly bigger than your average Vietnamese person so it is fairly snug! On the plus side it saves on a nights’ accommodation and gets us to our destination with the whole day to explore.

Anyway from Saigon we got the 7.30am bus to Nha Trang which took about 11 hours. We had a couple of hours there where we grabbed some food before boarding an overnight bus to Hoi An. We left at 7.30pm and arrived in Hoi An at 6.30am on Monday morning. In total we were on buses for 22 of the 24 hours so when we got to Hoi An we quickly found a guesthouse and crashed for a few hours.

Hoi An is a charming old town and a Unesco World Heritage Site. It also has over 200 tailor shops, so is a popular place to have clothes custom made. After our sleep we grabbed some food and in the afternoon hired a couple of bikes. We cycled through the town into the countryside past picturesque rivers and paddy fields to the beach. We stayed there for a few hours, looked around the stalls on the beachfront and generally chilled out. The weather was probably in the mid/late twenties, sunny and very pleasant. That evening we walked into the Old Town and found a really great restaurant looking out over the river. The beer (Bia Hoi) was 13p a glass. Ridiculous! We then ambled around some of tailor shops before getting drawn in by a couple. After about 40 minutes we had both been measured up for a garment each. Laura had opted for a really nice cream winter jacket while I went for a rather lavish black cashmere suit with shirt and tie! All this would be ready the next day and cost about £75. Brilliant! We did have the option of some custom made shoes but we thought it might be a bit over the top!

On Tuesday we got up to find the weather had turned and it was all a bit wet and gloomy. We had breakfast then braved the conditions walking around the Old Town taking in the sites and wonderful architecture. With the weather a little inclement it was the perfect day for the ladies of Hoi An to sell a poncho, and by looking at the numbers on display they did some very good business. Even Laura got in on the act sporting a lovely polka dot number for the afternoon.

Later we returned to the tailors for our fittings. With a few minor adjustments required we popped out for food before coming back later to collect our outfits. All in all it was a great experience and to get custom made clothes back home would cost a small fortune. Later we packed the new acquisitions into our bags before going to bed. For the first time in Asia the temperature was so cool that we didn’t even need the fan on!

In the morning we got the bus to Hue where we spent the afternoon in the rain before climbing aboard our current sleeper bus from which we write this blog! In about 10 hours we will be in Hanoi and look forward to visiting Halong Bay and seeing the city. Even if the weather is going to be the wrong side of 20 degrees it sounds nothing like what you guys are putting up with back in the UK! Tough times!

Stani and Laura xxx