We arrived in Hoi An - our favourite place yet. 2km to a beautiful beach, fishing village, fresh seafood, market, river and every street lined with tailors who make shoes and clothes to fit you. Their local dish is white rose which is beautiful shrimp in rice pastry in the shape of roses.

We have managed to get 2 suits and a coat for stu, and trousers, dresses, silk top, coat and knee high boots for Mel. All embarrassingly cheap. We then bought a rucksack to put it all in!

We cycled to the beach one day and unfortunately were the only people witness to some drowning children. We and a German man managed to get 2 to shore but they said there was still one more. We got others to look with us and even some local fishermen came with their nets but there was no visibility. After an hour we had still had no luck and with no ability to communicate with the locals could not determine if there was someone missing or not. Mel was not impressed with stu's "always take an aid" when he grabbed her clothes for an aid not his own!

On a brighter note we have had an excellent day for stu's bday which we started early yesterday as tonight we are on a 12 hour overnight bus! Stu had a birds nest drink to celebrate (very weird with bits in but tasted like mini egg coating!). He also had 3 beers for 50p!

Love from the place where we have now been to Hoi An, Hanoi and An Hoi,

Mel and stu x