Pacific Hoi An

... across and into Randy's book exchange.http://randysbookxchange.com/l ocation.html<br><br>Just as the Air con was pulling us out of our fog, Cold beer was served in a stubby holder and we spent well over an hour perusing the books and shooting the breeze with Randy, a Hawain born dude.<br><br>Thanks to Randy we now have a Cambodian cheat sheet, which for us travelling on Lonely planet, Mekong lite, is bloody invaluable. The ...

... och en skon idiotvarme.<br> <br> Kl 8 bar det av, satter sig pa bussen och ser till min fasa att bussen ar tankt for lokalbor, pygmeer. <br> Efter en timmes fard och tva knan fattigare kom vi fram till My Son. Ett tempelkompex ungefar 4 mil sydvast om Hoi An. <br><br>Jag citerar ur Wikipedia ...

... also been paying them rather hefty bribes, for which we will reimburse her. At about the same time we were finding this out, someone&#8217;s house was raided because she had people there and they had to leave. Rather than invite trouble, the Hartneys stayed in a hotel. We had lots to eat and drink with them and went for a long bike ride through the countryside, ending up at Cua Dai Beach. We got deck chairs and umbrellas in front of our favourite beach restaurant, Man, and did some swimming ...

... flavour. <br>We walked towards the town center to see the old town on the tidal river. Due to the bad weather<br>the water was a sandy muddy colour, not very pretty compared to the town. The town has a old rural French feel to it, the town largely escaped alot of bombing in the wars, so the buildings here are up to 200 years old, run down and green with moss and damp but they look amazing. the buildings in Hoi an playing a huge part of the charm of this small town. All along the river ...

... br>considering it was foreign food for Vietnam. <br><br>23rd October<br>We woke early after a simple night of Vietnamese street food and expensive<br>french desserts (a habit we should really get out of!) However, the<br>rain for yesterday had continued all night and the streets of Hoi An<br>were starting to look like rivers. We postponed our trip to My Son<br>until the following day and seemed set to write off the day altogether.<br>After a few hours it became drizzly and we ...

... arrow which I presumed said &#8216;You are here&#8217; so I&#8217;d stop occasionally and work it out from there and by pointing and saying &#8216;Hoi An&#8217; to Vietnamese people on the side of the road. I eventually got back into the town and figured out where I was. I then had the fun of figuring out the one way streets half of which were dug up due to road works so with lots of driving on pavements, going the wrong way down one way streets and taking up the favourite Vietnamese ...

We loved Hoi An! The main thing to do here is SHOP! The clothes are tailored and are dirt cheap (eg I got a pair of formal, lined and, of course, tailored work trousers for less than 5 pounds). Our bargaining skills were put to the test and we managed to get some great stuff for great prices. <br><br>Here is our shopping list:<br>1 x tuxedo<br>4 x suits<br>1 x coat<br>2 x skirts<br>2 x trousers<br>2 x jeans<br>5 x shirts<br>1 x shorts<br>2 x ...

... certainly be eating in a lot more Vietnamese restaurants when we get back to London. We have also enjoyed the beer &#8211; each region has its own speciality and after the one beer countries of Malaysia (Tiger) and Indonesia (Bintang) it&#8217;s been very nice to try a couple of different beers each night.<br><br>The biggest surprise has probably been the accommodation &#8211; it has been the best and most affordable of the trip. $10 &#8211; 15 will get ...

... backups - but that why theres been a lack of pictures for a while. <br><br>After a few Bia Hoi (it was a hot day) for 4000VND (that's 20pish!) we start having a look round a few tailor shops and I end up ordering one shirt to be made and Aly starts the process of buying a new wardrobe's worth of clothes. <br><br>The next day we rent some bikes and ride around the countryside which is nice, until it starts to rain anyway, and see ...

... 8217;s at 5pm to pick up the completed garments, and paid them to ship them home. Appointment at 6pm to try on Mandy's boots and sandals which fitted perfectly. Off to the post office to send it all home by sea mail, and back into town to drop Mandy at a Vietnamese cooking class. I had a light tea, bought food to the train tomorrow, then back to pick up Mandy&#8217;s Ao ...