Hoi An Indochine Hotel

... this time though ! Went back to the room about 17:00 to try and get a few hours sleep but no such luck.
That evening we all went out for a nice but expensive (for Vietnam anyway), then on to a Bar called Tam Tam's for a few beers. There was a Vietnamese dude in there that played pool with 1 arm and the other behind his back ! apparently he's **** playing properly though. I reckon i could take him.

... and in a much worse mood. Which was intensified all the more with a phone call from the shoe shop asking us to go back as there wasn’t enough material. Or something like that - Vietnamese people are so difficult to understand over the phone. So eventually got going, found the others and headed to the shoe shop to find out there wasn’t any of the pink suede - not even enough for one pair. Over the course of the next hour I learnt why fashion designers are as particular and ...

... the curse has been overcome!

Every Friday night, people working for the local NGOs are able to congregate at Treat’s Café and have a chat while eating and drinking. It is good socially, but is also a good way for people to learn about each other’s work and share ideas. Robyn is the main person behind this event and sent a lovely text inviting people to last week’s drinks: “Cyclone Ketsana debriefing and liquid counseling – Treats 6.15 Friday ...

L'évocation du Vietnam s'accompagne inévitablement de quelques 'a priori' issus de l'histoire et des films et auteurs qui ont pu nous transmettre une certaine vision de cette contrée lointaine. Leur vision. subjective. Forcement erronée en partie.Mais qui nous accompagne avant le départ et sur le trajet vers la capitale vietnamienne, Hanoi.

Un pays asiatique, soit plein de petits vietnamiens, brides, au nez court, courts sur pattes aussi. Une langue incompréhensible ...

... but it comes in huge sheets, which they then cut to A4 size, so we had to come back in an hour. We adjourned to a roadside drinks stall for a Coke. As Mark chatted to the couple of 50-y.o. Vietnamese men sitting there, he realized that one of them was a watch repairer. His poor watch-band was becoming extremely disreputable (as Ghi said, everything in Hoi An Old Town must look old), so he asked if he did watch bands. Of course, so he jumped on his motorbike and brought a ...

... attractions around town. The ticket isn't very straight forward, and we have to chose 1 of 4 options, there being 4 options in different parts of town - and all being on the map on the walking tour. Was a wee bit confusing but we saw what we wanted to in the end and it was pretty nice.

I should note that here my camera started to flip out - due to a Cambodian camera virus - and my photos disappeared! It's all fixed now, and I ...

... passenger was an older man or woman he would take his time pushing and pulling.

We pulled up to a large area of the city under construction. There are no sidewalks, dust was blowing everywhere, the road is but a strip of dust and mud, everyone fighting for a piece of the road - incoming traffic, bicycles and motorbikes. The crazy bus slowed down slightly. Out the window I could see two people on the motorbike squeezed between ...

... to a local restaurant, where we had a magnificent meal and a great night, with a whole range of characters. Despite all the joking, it seems to us that when you get a bunch of Aussies and a bunch of Kiwis together you usually have an excellent night. This was no exception.

Anne had suggested we meet a local woman, Nga, so we convinced Dung to take us to the Nguyen Nga Centre (NNC) next morning. What a whirlwind of a woman Nga turned out to be. Her centre is for ...

... felt like home for a second. We hiked around some old buildings, ruins, and up to the buddah and temple. We ate our lunch at the very top looking down on the valley full of fog. Little did I know that the fog would hold a lot of rain. Uhh man!
We kept walking around after lunch, there wasn't too much to do or see up top because there is a lot of construction going on. New hotels ...

... to get my favourite Abercrombie polo top copied in a couple of colours.

I'd also ruined my favourite pair of shorts in Laos by sitting in tar (the road was melting!) when the bus broke down, so they're also going to copy those for me too.

All together I'm paying US $30 (£15) for my 3 items and Katie is paying $12 (£6) for her dress, which is a bit of a bargain... depending on how they turn out of course! Fingers ...