Hoi An and Nha Trang (Central Vietnam)

Not the most exciting of entries but here goes....

Hoi An is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site; primarily because the towns’ diverse architecture (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese + European) managed to escape war damage. It is full of traditional old wooden shop fronts; making it an enjoyable place to spend copious amounts of money...unfortunately we did! We both invested in a tailor made suit (completed in less than 24 hours!), tailor made shoes, various souvenirs and refreshments in-between fittings (see dragon fruit picture – has anyone else ever seen this before? So cool – its got a bright pink rim when you cut it open and the fruit is white with tiny black seeds – a mix between watermelon and kiwi).

Aside from shopping we also managed to hire a scooter and visit the beach (which has been damaged by the typhoon and was therefore not as picturesque as it would have been the previous week). However, this worked to our advantage as the beach was deserted - the only people around were local women trying to sell anything and everything: from pineapples to pringles, backrubs to bracelets!! I opted for a french manicure (beth you should be proud!) which only cost 1GBP.

We also decided to do an excursion to My Son - a World Heritage Site of listed ruins created by the Cham people in about 400AD, and also home to a number of unexploded mines. This trip was, in a word, 'crap'. The tour guide didn't tell us anything about the ruins, so to us they just appeared to be a pile of bricks put together without cement. Through our cynicism we did however meet a like-minded couple, who we have since been out with a couple of times (see pics: dan = guy with curly hair/ laura = girl with blonde hair). They are doing a similar trip so they will possibly feature in a few of these blogs down the line...

The last thing to mention about Hoi An is the crazy autumn full moon festival that was going on from the eve we arrived until the eve we left (yet again immaculate timing!) The festival seemed to be a Vietnamese version of Halloween: kids dressed up as dragons and danced around to the beat of a drum for hours on end, trying to entice money from tourists and elders...day in day out. The first night we thought it was quite interesting, by the fourth I had a constant headache. It did however highlight another cultural difference: where as in the UK we would never dream of allowing begging kids into restaurants to annoy our customers while they eat, in Vietnam it is completely fine - they can annoy customers so much that they actually leave before ordering! haha

After 4 days in Hoi An we took a night bus to Nha Trang (suprisingly uneventful: bareable this time, although the coach did break down at 3am - flat tyre. I was amazed that the driver managed to find somewhere open at that time in the morning to sort it out - but he did!) Nha Trang has a great night life - we ended up staying out last night until 4am (a GREAT achievement for me these days - as I'm usually falling asleep by 10.30pm!) Its amazing how many people you meet from previous destinations along the way - a total of 8 of us ended up in the same bar in Nha Trang last night: small world.

The beach in Nha Trang is beautiful, but we havent found that much to do during the day. The blue and red boats in the pictures are unique to this town: eyes have been painted on the sides to 'spot fish'. We plan to look around a bit more tomorrow and will then move on to Saigon (HCM City) on Tuesday...

I will try and put the pics on now, if not tomorrow, so keep checking out the site. Sorry for not including any in these blogs - it just takes far to long to upload each photo individually.

Hope everyone is well and I hope the travel tales are a bit more exciting next time...although this blog is pretty dull we have in fact enjoyed Hoi An and Nha Trang...v odd!

Take Care, E and W xxx