Hi guys,
We spent two nights in Nha Trang after out last blog post - the sleeping hours of which I spent awake in terror of the cockroach family I discovered under my bed making an appearance, and the waking hours plotting to thieve the hotel of their kindly lent hair drier. When not busy with this, we (Sophie The Brave) evacuated four cockroaches who were on patrol of the bathroom. One individual, when flung from it's complimentary glass, landed on his back, and giving into pity I offered him a helping hand, only for him to make a run for the doorway at top speed - I had to leap like the BFG to make it back before him. We spent the next ten minutes with baited breath waiting for his tentacles to appear under the door, but apparently he was craftier, instead subtly hiding in the folds of our towels later on. Apart from this hunting activity (which personally I think Sophie thoroughly enjoyed as an extension to her new murdering fettish), we also clocked up a good few hours on the beach (carefully sidestepping the hyperdermic needle strewn on the sand), attempting to soak up as many rays as we could, and very successfully so - we are both wonderfully sunburnt in the most uncomfortable places. On top of this we visited a spa where we we shared a bathtub full of mud (neither sure of what we were really meant to do, we just wallowed around for a while, being closely watched by our neighbours).
It was in this fateful city that Sophie was taken ill with a throat infection, however thanks to a friendly Vietnamese pharmacist, who was only too ready to hand over his tablets in bulk, I can confirm that she is back on solids and making a slow but steady recovery. We are taking each day as it comes.
Following our adventures in Nha Trang we boarded a horrendous night train to Hoi An. The carriage in which we were staying smelt like sewage (and we weren't the lucky ones to have a nappy under our beds), and the bed linen was far from fresh. However thanks to the collective supplies of the crew (Beth providing flash wipes, Sophie her alcohol gel, Tom his Lynx chocolate spray and I the head torch to check small spaces for cockroaches) we had the room disinfected and smelling slightly sweeter for approximately thirty seconds before the stench crept back in. At one point, Beth, Tom and myself ventured out in search of food, me leading the way, hands lined with flash wipes, but on discovering the offerings of undrained rice and semi-developed chicks complete in their egg shells, we retreated back to our foul smelling but slightly cleaner room.
Next stop was Hoi An, the tailoring capital of Vietnam. At first we were able to resist the temptation to have the dresses of our dreams cut to perfection, unlike the majority of the group, however a few hours later we gave in - ordering clothing from a cheery girl. Little did we know the horrors we were to experience, with my dress being made in the wrong colour, which I was then begged to purchase (in the end I got away empty handed), and Sophie's taking a very long time to make. In the end I found a couple of cheery tailors who were able to whip up a new dress in several hours, saving the day. To pass the time between various fittings we hired bikes and cycled for kilometre upon kilometre, to the beach and then into the wilderness (I assured Sophie it was a circular route, however to no avail - I think it was via Russia), before taking the responsibility of sampling all the happy hours in the town. There is a team pool party tonight, before the long drive to Hue tomorrow.

Lots of love
Elinor and Sophie
xxx