07/03/09 Hue to Hoi An

In the morning we wake up early in Hue to get the bus to Hoi An. It takes 4 hours and we have a couple of stops along the way, a lake which is out of the way and really quiet but suprise, suprise there is a woman there waiting to sell even though we're hiding from her on the bus she cathches us!!!

We also pass by marble mountain and then go to a shop nearby selling marble products, the stuff they have is amazing, absolutely amazing but massive and super expensive. We arrive at 12 and walk into town to have some lunch, Cau La, a special type of Hoi An dish, it is really tasty and Mattie has mackeral baked with turmeric in a banana leaf which is also a speciality here and really good.

We wonder around town as a group and our guide takes us to a shop which specialses in silk. They show us how it's made from start to finish and they even have silk worms there which are at different stages, it's really interesting. One cocoon can produce 500-1000 metres of thread. In the afternoon Mattie gets measured up for a shirt at the posh shop in town, Yaly. It's really nice in there and the girls in the shop all wear traditional dress. We even get to go up stairs and see some of the tailors in action. I go and get measured up for some clothes too at a different place, we get our haggling caps on and get $10 off the price, whoo hoo!

We then head out for dinner together, walk a stupidly long walk back to the hotel and go to sleep.

08/03/09 - Hoi An

We have a small lie in this morning before heading into town to meet our guide who takes me to my cooking class, Mattie decides not to participate in this activity for some reason?! It's really good, the girl teaching us is so nice and a brilliant teacher, telling us how to substitute things when we won't be able to get them back at home and taking us round the market telling us about when things are fresh and in season. We learn how to make 5 dishes, sweet and sour chicken soup, spring rolls (a must in Vietnam), papaya salad, fish in banana leaf and aubergine in clay pot, and at the end we got to eat them for lunch mmm mmmm!!!

Whilst I do this mattie has a little wonder by himself, gets some breakfast and has a drink by the waterside, he then gets accosted by a gorup of Vietnamese girls who all want their picture taken with him, this is becoming a regular occurance!!

We have some free time then so we just walk around and get an ice cream, Hoi An is a lovely place you could really spend a lot of time here and money, you can't swing a cat for a tailors shop. Also they make shoes here too, i get a pair of leather flip flops tailor made for me, they are so comfortable. The girl in the shop says they can copy any shoes, they even have puma's, addidas trainers there which are copied and really good.

We go back for our clothes fittings but they all need to be altered a bit so we go back to the hotel and sit by the pool to relax a little before we head out to pick up mattie's shirt which is now perfect, made in 1 day, altered in 4 hours!!

09/03/09 - Hoi An

It's cloudy today which is rubish as we were going to go to the beach, we decide to hire some bikes for the day and cycle into town and around Hoi An. We go to the History Museum and the Japanese covered bridge before cycling to the other side of town and down to the beach, the weather is still not that good but the beach is lovely so we sit down and have a small sleep anyway before going back, on the way i graze my foot on a high curb and it bleeds a lot!! We stop at what looks like a pretty restaurant on the riverside and order a banana split but the ice cream is rotten and tastes like onion, it makes Mattie feel sick! Still a bit hungry we go to the little cafe next door to the hotel and have some Cau Lao and then relax for a while after all the cycling coz we are doing a bike tour in the afternoon.

I am sure the bike tour starts 4:30, mattie thinks it's 4 but doesn't check, we go down at 4:30 but they've already left!! Seeing as we've hired the bikes for the day we decide to get our punnds worth and clycle off on our own anyway, after about 15 minutes, a dead end and some crazy mud track later we find our group randomly!!

Mattie crosses a crazy bamboo monkey bridge and at the other end is a little boy who strokes his arm and gives Mattie a hug?! We continue the tour and go back to the hotel and we all decide to go out for dinner together to a local restaurant, the food is good except we unknowingly order a Vietnamese speciality, steamed chicken. Souns fine I know but you have no idea about the nighmares this chicken has caused!!!! It comes out cut into chunks that have lovingly been re-arranged as the whole chicken complete with the head and bum hole, but it is literally just skin and bone, not nice roasted skin but thick, tough, rubbery skin, THERE IS NO MEAT!! WHATS WRONG WITH THE CHICKEN, WHERE DID ALL THE MEAT GO?!!!! Needless to say we could't eat it and the owner appears upset by this. Then to top it off we are expecting the chicken to be like 50,000VND but it's 200,000 so we're like what the hell is this on the bill, they don't speak English so bring out a whole chiken to demonstrate what the 200,000 is - message recieved. An experience!!

10/03/09 - Hoi An to Nha Trang

Our last day in Hoi An, we get up early and head to town for the traditioanl music and dance show but we can't find it. Then we hear the sound of drums so follow that which leads us to it. There is music, dancing, the Vietnamese form of bingo, and this super crazy girl performing.

On our way back to the hotel we stop at the market to buy some friut for the train journey, we have fun trying the unknown friut (later discover it's tamarind and longan) and haggling with the sellers. We then take a bus to Danang and get the day train to Nha Trang, it's an uneventful journey - no rats and we arrive at 10:30pm and go straight to bed.