#The next stop on our tour of duty in 'Naaam' was a very pretty little town called Hoi An, a picturesque and kind of Chinesy Padstow and a place that is recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

We arrived in a lovely hotel called The Sunflower where we were greeted by a very small, very pretty but very loud lady who checked us in. She asked for our passports and seemed to have real problems in pronouncing Rays name:

Small loud Lady - "Diamond Glinaway?"

Us- "No….Raymond Grinaway"

Small loud Lady - Yes iss Diamond Glin away!,

Us - No its not its Ray…mond….R.A.Y.M.O.N.D Grinaway!!!!

Small loud Lady - Ah yes….. Diamond….

Us - RAYMOND!

Ok we give up!

So once Diamond and I had found our room we decided to hire the ancient 'sit up and beg bicycles' outside the hotel and go and explore.

Hoi An is Ancient Town and is exceptionally well-preserved. It served as a South-East Asian trading port from the 15th to the 19th century and much of the buildings and main part of the town remains the same.

We cycled around the old buildings, temples and pagodas and walked through the cobbled street where the market vendors are constantly trying to sell you something to eat, wear, use or trying to provide an essential service. As we turned a corner I was approached by a middle aged woman pulling on two pieces of thin thread. In a very loud voice she asked…"Hey lady, you wan me do your moustache??"…..blinkin cheek!!...I refused and cycled off very quickly to the end of the lane where another lady standing outside her shop invited me in..." hey lady you wan see my shop, we sell lovely bikinis and bloody big bras…you come in see my shop??....so I kicked my pedals into top speed and got outta there!!....we went back the day and the lady with the thin threads jumped out on me again!!!!....I spent hours in the mirror after that…I'm sure it's not that bad!!

We stayed in Hoi An for three days and continued our bicycle tour. We found a little lantern covered fishing boat that was moored alongside the famous 16th century "Japanese Bridge" (The bridge is a beautiful structure built by the Japanese, with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side of it…..very pretty). We climbed on board the boat and ordered two beers and started chatting to an older couple who had also stopped. It turned out that these two lived in Cornwall, owned a tin mine and were great friends with one of Ray's old tutors in Falmouth…small world eh?

In the evening, the pretty cobbled streets of Hoi An are lit with hundreds of hand crafted Chinese lanterns of all shapes, colours and sizes, so lovely and makes walking through the streets at night time even more magical and romantic… We sat by the water's edge in the moon and lantern light and ate something deep fried on a stick…it was tasty and the locals kept smiling and could not do enough for us….thankfully we weren't ill ..Think it was chicken or croc or frog or something ….anyway it was tasty!

I really enjoyed Hoi An, again the beaches are yet to be established as touristy spots, the people were kind and friendly (apart from the women's obsession with upper lip hair) and the town was pretty , clean and well kept.

As we headed out of the Sunflower Hotel to catch the next bus to the city of 'Hue' the pretty small loud lady shouted from the steps "bye bye Diamond!!!"….I went back over and said "You know his name really is Raymond?"…..she winked and said "I know it's Raymond but I think he's a diamond…safe journey... aw what a lovely, small, pretty, loud lady she was!!!