More rain

The rain continued all yesterday afternoon; we opted not to go out for something to eat in the evening along with about a dozen of the hotel's residents. The water had filled the street and pavement and was approaching the hotel door. The shops on the street had shut up for the night piling their stock on chairs and tables. A few people from our hotel decided to venture out for food; an Australian couple told us today that they were virtually swimming back to the hotel last night as in some parts it was thigh / waist deep. We all ordered food from the hotel to discover this was from a takeaway shop so some poor guy turned up 40 minutes later, 20 plastic bags attached to his motorbike, soaked. The food wasn't that good and slightly damp. We headed to bed.

This morning it was still raining hard. However there had been a lull in the night; at one point the water had apparently come in to the hotel but thanks to the lull it drained a little. The lady on reception rang our bus company, which was supposed to collect us from the hotel at 8am. However it said it would meet us on a street which would be a 30 minute walk away. It turns out that the whole of Hué isn't flooded (which is quite a relief); the street our hotel was on and about 3 others are lower than the rest and so badly affected. The hotel had also organised a bus to Hoi An, which would meet us much nearer so we opted for that one. About 7 of us set off with our bags, wading down the street (knee deep in very murky looking water ignoring the debris that kept strapping itself to our legs). We were only about 400m away from normal road where eventually the bus collected us.

At some point during the 4 hour journey to Hoi An it stopped raining. When we arrived, the usual touts boarded from various hotels, but again we had booked one night already. The bus took us to our hotel to discover that it too was on one of the roads which had been flooded in Hoi An. Preferring not to repeat the morning's escapades we opted for a hostel on a higher road, which has turned out to be OK; we have a twin room with bathroom (and hot water and a plughole that drains) and AC for $10 a night.

We showered and walked out; Hoi An is a small, curious little town. It's quite shabby but in an endearing way; its architecture is European and Chinese influenced and actually quite lovely. Set on a river called Thu Bon river, in its past it was an international trading port. Hoi An Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is pleasant to walk around. Geared up for tourists (lots of coach parties at the bigger hotels) there are lots of nice restaurants and bars; a bit more expensive for our liking, this means that dishes are upwards of 45,000 dong (34,000 d to the £) and although this is cheap you can find cheaper.

So far in Vietnam everyone has spoken a little English, menus have all been in English and had a range of veggie options so a different experience in general compared with China.

Another good thing about Hoi An in particular and which many of my female friends would LOVE is the fact that there are tailor shops everywhere all vying for your attention. Clothes can be made to measure within 24 hours. There are some lovely fabrics here too including silk of all colours. A bit dubious as to who actually makes these clothes (having visions of 11 year old children staying up all night in sweaty sewing rooms so we can have our exclusive items of clothing did not appeal) many of the shops have the sewing factories next door where you can see the workers and their conditions, therefore able to decide for yourself if it is morally ok to order something.

This evening while we were eating in a nearby restaurant the heavens opened again; almost as quickly, several vendors appeared selling these massive but very practical floor-length pastel-coloured rainmacs. So, for 20,000 dong we bought two and headed back to our hostel. Quite a surreal experience as many of the Vietnamese people plough on regardless; we walked back (looking like two giant marshmallows) to the tune of 'Happy Birthday' emanating from a vendor's cart as he pushed his wares (noodle soup and small inflatable superhero shaped balloons on sticks (?)) through the rain.

One other little observation following on from this, in both Vietnam and China, tunes such as 'Jingle Bells', 'Happy Birthday' and 'Auld Langs Syne' are not understood as tunes for specific occasions as we understand them, rather as quite jiggy tunes to dance to, have on your mobile phone or, as described above, to have as an accompaniment to your vending cart.