1 - 4 March

Hoi'an was our first glimpse of the sea and the first proper relaxation time we had had in so long.

We stayed in a hotel called the Grasslands Hotel for 15 dollars a night. We had a lovely room with a balcony and a swimming pool.

We spent our days reading and pottering around town. It was a small fishing village with mediterrean charm on the mouth of river which headed out to the sea. It was glorious, a beautiful town with beautiful beaches and some of the best Vietnamese food I have ever tasted. I felt like I was really on holiday instead of just travelling. Not that travelling for 18 months is a bad thing!

The bar scene was great and we found a bar called Before and Now that played indie and rock. We spent many hours there it was like being back at college, dancing away to all the classics.

I wish we could have spent longer there, but our time was sadly running out in Vietnam and we had so much more to do.

To be on a beach and be able to go into the sea was great. we had seen the sea in Halong Bay and I had even attempted to go into the sea, but that fail;ed miserably when I fell down that flight of stairs in the boat. I finally get to go into it, a sea with no one in it, it was such a rush. I felt like I was the first person ever to step foot into the sea on that particular beach. I sat in the sea for a long time and allowed the waves to crash upon me for sometime I felt the inner peace I had been craving for so long. I was so anxious about the next few weeks retracing my old steps across South East Asia and for a short moment I forgot all about that in Hoi'an.