Pacific Hoi An

... not the greatest start.

Nevermind, we got on our bikes and went cruising into town, it's actually a nice little place on the river. Lots of tailor shops...I managed not to go into any....otherwise our holiday budget could've been depleted quite quickly...

We didn't do too much while there, ate, drank and ...

... were looking good - the ones in the cloth markets needed more alterations but with the exception of one if Miriam’s shirts which in the end turned out really well but was a bit of a mess at the time it was all good. With less than 24 hours left in Hoi An there was no way we could get anything else made. Or was there? I had decided not to get any shoes made as Miriam wasn’t entirely happy with the ones she had had made and Nathans turned out ok in the end but with a lot of ...

... had been removed, Mark found he was now able to separate the others. In the end, every page was saved. After leaving them on the floor for a couple of days, he gathered them together and visited his friend Trinh, the photocopier man. He was able to trim the edges, find a cover page for back and front, with a plastic cover, and bind it together like a copy-book. It took ten minutes and cost 4,000 dong (about 27 cents)! Mark commented that he loves this country!

When we were ...

... were still a problem next day. When we mentioned this at the workshop, Sang lent Mary her bike and took Mary’s to the repair-man. Because she speaks the language, she was able to explain the problem, and now it runs like a dream.

Karen has come back for the next month, accompanied by quite a few new volunteers, so it has provided a good opportunity for us to get away for a few days. Mark spent some time handing over a lot of files to one of the new ...

... hair salon in Hoi An, but is also trying to set up a website that provides information about everything in Hoi An. There is no such site available and his will be at www.livehoianonline.com. He had some very exciting ideas and will provide space free to organizations such as ours. For businesses, advertising is cheap. He plans to set up similar sites throughout Viet Nam and hopes to use excess profits to help worthwhile causes when he can. It was interesting because a new ...

... pick and choose the things that you want to see and we feel that other countries have destinations offering similar things.

I’m not sure you can mention all the positives without mentioning the things we haven’t liked however. We enjoyed our time in Saigon and Hoi An but the further North we travelled the less enjoyable it has been. We have been lucky enough to travel to many South East Asian countries before so we knew to expect a ...

Our sleeper bus arrives in Hoi An at 6 (am) and we lurch off to find a guesthouse. Luckily we find one soonish (thanks to some enterprising Xe Om drivers) and have a shower. The sleeper bus was fine to be honest, comfy enough but had no where near enough space for me to sleep properly - leading to be crouching up in some weird yoga pose for the night. Also, annoyingly, the driver stops randomly and just goes for a smoke or to buy some ...

... br>
When we arrived at Da Lat, widely known as the home of Vietnamese kitsch, our first stop was at Crazy House. This is an amazing architectural concoction of all sorts of strange things, both inside and outside. If you want to check it out, together with lots of other unusual places around the world, visit http://unusual-architecture.com/. The woman behind this very strange project was the daughter of one of the leading Communist Party members in Viet Nam and decided to ...

... clothes and found another store we liked on the other side of town. There are entire streets with storefronts showcasing manequins with examples of suits, winter jackets, and womens gowns for people to have copied. Besides all the examples for you to see you can also bring in your own piece or just look in their multitude of magazines and books. I hadn't planned on getting a jacket made but since it's too hard for them to make pieces a little too big ...

... a pool, satellite tv, a bath and was close to the centre, all for the princely sum of US $18, job done.



Hoi An is well known for having a very nice old town which has hardly changed despite the recent rapid increase in tourism in the area. It has a real 'trading' heritage and is already noticeably smaller than both Hanoi & Hue, with much more of a 'small town' vibe.

It's also famous for its expert ...