We arrived in Hoi An on Wednesday after catching our bus from Hue. We were dropped of outside of a hotel which was cheep but instead went in hunt of a hotel we had heard of with a pool! When we arrived we were told it included free breakfast and free cocktails from 6-7 everyday!!!! What more could one ask for.

Hoi An is very close to the coast but the main of the town in situated around the river. The town is known for its shops that will make anytype of clothing item identical to anything in a catalogue. To start with this seemed a good thing but soon I realised this meant the girls would want to stop in every other bloody shop!

Day 2 in Hoi An and we tried to plan a boat trip to one of the local islands but a lot were cancelled due to the approaching tornado!! Which by the way we have seen nothing of so far - reckon they are parranoid. After pulling Gem and Meg away from the shops we spent the rest of the day visiting the local sites. The first place we visited was a craft and music workshop where we watched a show and then looked around seeing all the local people crafting everything from lanterns (see the pic), pottery on a wheel, carving stone with a hammer and chisell - using his feet to hold the tiny piece of stone!! and wood carving. Really amazing to watch - where in the western world craftsman seem to use clamps and vices to hold what they are working on here they just use their bear feet. We also visted a local history musuem and some of the old houses. One old town house showed the flood marks on a post. In this particular house the water seemed to rise over 12 ft every couple of years.

We decided to visit the beach everyone was talking about yesterday but avoiding the midday sun we arrived at about 2. Tropical sands and palm trees line the beach but the bloody old women selling things are a pain in the backside. Sea was pretty rough (should have brought my surf board) so we stayed out the sea.

We went on a river cruise this morning for 2 hours which was really good to see the local fisherman and all their different techinques for catching the fish. It was luckily the boat had a canopy to give us some relief from the baking sun. Have I meantioned how hot it is yet?

Leaving Hoi An tonight on a overnight sleeper bus to Nang Trang - it may just be a overnight lying down bus as they are rather bumpy!