Another hearty breakfast and stick again to the fruit but never refuse a danish. Arrange to meet Emma at the beach but I need to look into flights and get notes up to date. Set off on the bike wobbling away. Realise the front tire is flat. I slowly drive back and the friendly owner calls her mechanic husband. I meet Emma at the beach just in time for lunch. I go for a grilled pork dish whilst Emma goes for her usual Papaya salad. If I was more into seafood its the dish I'd go for. Very tasty. The deal with the sunbeds is you need to eat at the restaurant, but the food is good and our host Meow is a sweetheart. She tries to learn slang from around the world. An older Welsh chap had been teaching her and she always says "top of the morning" to the Irish and "lovely jubbly" to the English or "apples and pears" if also a londoner. Every time she sees me its "see you Jimmy". We leave the beach a little earlier, around 5pm as its the full moon celebrations in Hoi An tonight. The beach is packed with locals. At 4pm music begins at a local restaurant signalling the arrival of the hoards of friendly Vietnamese.
We head out around 7:30pm, Facebook Messenger proving a great tool. Emma had hurt her back earlier at the beach but we go to a chemist next to my hostel and the lady presscribes medicine that helps her immensely. The pharmacies are great here and the fact that no prescription is required saves a world of pain. We head down to the old part of town and the river is awash with lit floating lanterns. Only wish I had a camera that could have captured the spectacle. The whole place is packed and for one night no traffic is allowed. Emma starts hunting for ideas for her mums 60th, finding a novel card that has a pop out purple tree. Haggling improving she batters the price right down. The area is so busy that we are drawn to an empty restaurant with cute kids playing out the front. A hearty, if a little bland dinner so we will return to street food tomorrow. My braised beef lacked punch and even the noodle soup with lumps of chili had no fire. The lattice style pork spring rolls and morning glory (heated version of spinach and garlic), the better part of the meal. We walk around looking for present ideas, lanterns hanging across the streets. We cross the bridge and watch the lanterns gently floating down the river joined by tourists in rowing boats. We notice a street tucked away, both seeming to find new parts of the town every day. The street is lined with a market. The highlight being the kaleidoscope of colour coming from the lantern stalls. The rest of the street made of stalls with jewelry and trinkets. Enough variety to attract the tourists. Typical that we notice much better food options after eating. We turn a dark street watching some tourists cooking their own food at a small restaurant with hot coals. A fun alternative. Further along small fires are lit with locals burning their rubbish. We watch a father and his little boy enjoying the glow and embers. Not much else down this part of the town so we go back to the Bob Marley bar, an apple sheesha and passion fruit cocktails becoming our staple. We leave and walk through the dimly lit old town. We sneak over the paid Japanese bridge and explore the area, weaving through tiny alleys. Emma grabs a couple of beers from her hotel and we sneak into the old temple grounds next to my hotel. Arched bridges and Lilly ponds our night time view. An unusual and great place to have a beer(LT). The gate locked to my hostel, I scale the lattaced gate in full fairy elephant mode.