We decided to spend an extra few days in Hoi An in order to catch the full moon festival which we though was every month, however on the last day we found out it was just every lunar month, so it never happened and we never got to see the floating lanterns and the traditional dancing and games! However the extra time turned out to be very useful for curing all our shopping needs.

Hoi An is the shopping capital of Vietnam, with over 300 tailor shops, shoes shops and any other shop that we could possibly need! We decided at the beginning that we would just get 1 item each, however I ended up with 5 items (3 dresses, 1 shirt and 1 skirt) and Rob with 4(1 of which was a very dashing suit jacket, 2 shirts and one slightly disgusting jumper) and that was us trying to hold back, but the sales ladies seem to have their way with both of us. Also stocking up on cheap DVDs here, bought far too many now...

Apart from shopping, which took up most of out time here, we explored the ancient ruins of My Son, which would have been lovely if it hadn't been so hot that I had to spend most of the time in the shade. We also went to our first proper beach of the hoilday (Ha long bay didn't count because it felt like we were in England) which was gorgeous with miles of sandy beaches and amazing clear sea's. The windy weather also cooled us down in the midday sun. However we both ended up with some serious sunburn and awful tan lines, we will hopefully learn to stay in the shade from now on. We also went on a small tour around the town, looking at all the little Japanese houses, museums etc that we could see! (we even got a "magic" pot of tea from the special well here). Beer here is extremely cheap (This made Rob happy), a pint of fresh local beer was the equivelent of about 12p.

The food here is also some of the best we have had this trip, the Hoi An speciality are particularly delicious! Rob has had Cau Lou (a kind of noodle dish) for the last 10 meals. There are also wontons, special pancakes and of course lots of fresh (and live from the market) sea food.

Nearly forgot to mention the exploding toilet in our hotel, which flooded our room with all our stuff on the floor (including our new tailored clothes to our horror), NOthing was damaged though and only one or two things got wet, but we have learnt to leave all are bags etc off ground level from now on! And we got taken into a huge room with a 40" plasma TV as an apoligy so all's good :)

Currently waiting for the sleeping bus to Nha Trang for more beaches, islands and party boats!