As reported last time, Hoi An is indeed very pretty, with lots of traditional Vietnamese buildings and lots of brightly coloured lanterns strung up across the streets and in trees, so aside from the fact that rain ruined our beach plans again, I'd say it was worth the horrendous journey. Shah and I are starting to think that we are cursed when it comes to beach time - or perhaps it's fate trying to save us from a horrible seaside-related death?!

Most of Hoi An's sights are in the Old Town, including a cool Japanese covered bridge, which has statues of dogs at one end and monkeys at the other, to show the years in which it was started and finished. Technically speaking, you're supposed to pay to get into the Old Town (it's a world heritage sight), but we mangaed wander round for three days without anyone charging us. We spent enough Dong on food and tat while we were in the old Town anyway! There's also the Marble Mountains, which are just outside of Hoi An. These are five massive limestone formations that used to be islands, but are now surrounded by houses. We spent some time exploring the main mountain - there were a lot of steps to get to the top! - which is dotted with pretty pagodas, a tall tower, creepy caves and stunning viewpoints over the sea in one direction and the other mountains in the other.

Even though Hoi An is a tiny town, there are still tons of motorbike riders offering you lifts from one end of town to another, and they're every bit as persistent as in the cities - one guy tried to tell me that the place I was headed to (two streets away) was a 20km trip! The town also has a variety of speciality foods which you can only get in Hoi An - cau lao (noodles made with water from the nearby river, with beansprouts, greens and usually pork, although not for us!), white rose (a kind of dumpling) and a particular type of fried wanton - needless to say we made sure we tried all of these before we left town, and aside from the fried wanton, we were very pleased with what we tried!

What Hoi An is known for though, is its many, many tailorshops, where you can get really nice handmade clothes for super cheap. Is nice price, you like...? Shah and I both went with the intention of not buying anything, but ended up coming out with a new jacket each and a new dress for me! There was a bit of kerfuffle over the dress (instead of making a new one, they'd just taken out the one they already had) but after I went back a couple of times they made a whole new one, with just minutes to spare before we had to catch our next bus! The capital city is a our next destination - Hanoi here we come...

Byee for now!
xxx