HOI AN – New Year’s EveAfter our very tiring one hour journey north we were a bit gutted to find huge black clouds in the sky when we landed at Danang and by the time we got dropped at our hotel in HoiAn it was absolutely pouring it down – a bit of a change from the constant sun we have now become accustomed to. Plus this was a bit of a pain as we had booked into a ‘real’ hotel rather than a hostel (little new year treat to ourselves) and so were hoping to get some use out of the hotel pool – sadly this wasn’t to be though as the rain didn’t really stop for the whole time we were in HoiAn so there wasn’t a lot of sunbathing/pool action to be had. Not a problem though as HoiAn is absolutely gorgeous, it’s a UNESCO world heritage sight, so we spent the time there wandering round the lovely old streets, visiting the sights, shops, cafes etc and generally soaking up the atmosphere. That evening, our hotel (which was the cutest and cheesiest place ever) had planned a little party with traditional dancing and a buffet and cocktails by the pool, which we were obviously going to ‘Free food and drink? We’re there!!!’ Miraculously the rain stopped just long enough for us to sink a few beers and eat yet more spring rolls, even more thankfully, the rain begun again just as the staff joined in with the Abba song ‘Happy New Year’, which we were to hear another 13 times in the next 24hours, we kept count!.... We have to add that we had lost count, and our minds, when we were still hearing it in our heads in Laos 2 weeks later. It is now officially our New Years tune - not by choice we might add.New Year’s Eve marked the end of HoiAn’ s ‘Year of Tourism’ so there was a pretty big party planned by the riverside which looked like it was going to be a washout as everyone was walking round in their plastic ponchos looking very attractive and the river was looking dangerously near to flooding its banks. Then all of a sudden the rain finally stopped, just for a few hours but long enough for hundreds of candles to be lit and floated down the river, which was pretty special. We took a long-tail boat ride down the river which was really great and managed to get out just in time before the rain came down again (and before Abba was played again). We had the beer coats on by this time though, so we were fine and we saw the New Year in at one of the bars nearby. They did the countdown but then put rave music on straight away afterwards - no Auld Lang Syne or anything - ridiculous! We had to move on to another bar in protest and this where Sarah saw the biggest rat (size of dog) ever - luckily she was drunk and just thought it was funny - otherwise it would've been mayhem. New Year's Day was again spent wandering around the beautiful old town shops and cafes, generally chilling out. The only final thing to tell you about HoiAn is that you can get clothes tailor-made, literally anything from dresses, to suits, to winter coats, even shoes - there is a reason that so many labels say 'made in Vietnam' . Sadly for us we did not really have time to sort this out, as you have to give them a few days if you want something making properly, so we might just have to pay it another visit.