From Hue to Hoi An we decided to give the buses a miss and get a car around the mountains. There is a new road that goes straight to Hoi An through the mountain, but it means you miss out on seeing all the scenery on the way. Unfortunately it was a pretty overcast day, so the views weren't as good as we hoped but still pretty impressive. We also stopped at one of the worst museums in Vietnam - a Cham museum. Pretty sure the only purpose for the stop was to add a stop to our day tour!

After about 4 hours we reached Hoi An which is beautiful. Its hard to describe why or how, but it's a really amazing place. It's built up around an old city and a lot of the old yellow brick walls are still there and look very antique. The main streets have shops/houses/restaurants with wooden openings and there are a lot of old teak houses. It's also really peaceful, and cars and motorbikes are banned from the main roads for a lot of the day which makes it enjoyable to walk around. (Especially as the rest of Vietnam's roads are so chaotic and load!) Each building in Hoi An hangs lanterns outside which are lit at night which is beautiful. There is a river through the city which is also lush at night at you can see the reflection of the lights on the other side of the river, as well as floating lanterns on the river.

We had bought a ticket which allows you entry to five of Hoi An's sights, but quickly realised that this wasn't really necessary. There were some impressive religious temples and meeting houses, but we also went in an old teak house - which had nothing more to show than what could be seen from the road, and the Japanese bridge - which was actually a public footpath and free to cross for everyone. There are only three main streets in Hoi An, and there is one main road from Hoi An to the beach. One day we decided to use the bikes provided by the hotel and cycle along the straight road to the sea. When we got there it was bucketing down with rain so we just relaxed in a bar on the seafront. We also stopped in a really cute place on the way back which overlooked the river, and you could see women out in thier kayaks and boats fishing in the rain. Somehow we managed to get lost on the way back (along the straight road) and end up in the farming area way outside of Hoi An town, surrounding by water buffalo and rice paddies. Apparently that was the last time I'd be allowed to lead the way!

The food was also amazing. One night the power went out in the city, so the restaurants were all lit up by candle light which was really picturesque. Another night we sat on a balcony over looking the river with more food than we could possible eat for about $3 each and bear for 20 cents.

Hoi An is also famous for its tailors. About 30% of the shops are set up to make clothes and are covered in displays of the different styles and materials they have to offer which was amazing. After hunting around for a while (and bartering for a better price for even longer) I decided on getting some day dresses made which I love and will be great for traveling, winwin!