Ha An Hotel Hoi An

The bad thing when you wait a few days to blog is that there's so much to write down that I don't even know where to begin. With any grand endevour, it really sucks when you realize that you're not going to realize your original goals. For me, I have been very lazy about blogging. We have had free internet in every single hotel that we have been in but its hard to sit down and spend an hour writing the day's activities. I have been doing a better job at posting all the pictures i have taken o...

Sometimes you see something that's so mind blowing that you don't know where to begin. I had two such experiences today. These were not digitally enhanced or modified in any way!!! Today was definitely a shopping day... Lisa and i just spent over a grand on tailored clothes today in hoi an. I now have 3 suits and 8 dress shirts to wear. I even designed a dress for lisa... Let's see if i can get on project runway. We're just chilling after walking home in almost pitch black on empty streets at...

The air-conditioned bus from Hue to Hoi An left our hotel and pulled up 30m down the road. We then all got out and changed to another air-conditioned bus - pointless? The ride was bumpy and didn't really give the kind of scenery we were expecting to see, especially as this section of the east coast is supposed to have the best views. The bus ride wasn't the most comfortable (Andrews seat kept falling backwards and the air-con was faulty) but for £2.50 each we weren't going to complain! Arrivi...

After taking the overnight train down to Danang, we arrived in the coastal city of Hoi An, a beautifully preserved colonial town. We toured the city, ate lots of great meals along the river and hid from the noon sun during Vietnam's big heat wave.

The big highlight of Hoi An is the tailoring - every other shop seems to be a tailor. We went to a place called Yaly Couture. Yaly is a sprawling empire of tailoring, huge reams of cloth lay everywhere, and an army of young women in ao dai wr...

We wake from a night of monsoon level rain to no rain....for a moment. Then the deluge begins. It's rained very hard and steady since 6;30am (it's now 9:30). We dinked around over breakfast and now are dinking around the internet hoping things will let up. We need to go to the shoe shop at 11ish and the tailors around 3pm. We'd planned to hit the central market this morning, but, the water wasn't quite deep enough to swim there and who wants to wade! A couple of weeks ago the town flooded to ...

We check out of the hotel we were in and take a cab to the Ha An Hotel. It's on a riverside street and has a beautiful courtyard and architecture. Rooms open up onto the courtyard. Service is lovely....they offer us umbrellas in the light drizzle of the morning. Joe drops the laundry at a place across the street and we leave our bags for later check-in. We head down the street toward the market and decide to see if we can find the tailor the Aussie's recommended. Lan's shop ends up to be a ha...

By 8am we were checking-in to our wonderful hotel - the best so far - and tucking in to a fabulous breakfast. The old town of Hoi An is the tailor-made capital of Vietnam (as well as a UNESCO site of historical importance). It's a delight to wander the old colonial style streets dotted with older Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese buildings all set alongside the river. The market, as ever, was fascinating and bubbling with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We also did a bus/boat tour to My Son...

In direct contrast to our departure from the Riverside, it is painful to leave the Ha An Hotel. This place has been a total pleasure and it 100% recommended. We have arranged for the post office to come to the hotel, pack up our purchases and ship them at an unpleasant price... but it beats carrying them on the road for the next couple of weeks! The hotel arranged a cab for us to get to the airport in Da Nang and, giving it look from the road, it should not be considered a vacation stop. The ...