Sao Bien Hoi An

... less of a hassle from anybody during this visit to Vietnam. It must be a combination of me answering in Vietnamese most of the time and/or that I'm carrying myself differently. I haven't really had my patience tried at all during this trip.

I got 7 shirts and a hat in Hoi An so I completed my shopping goals. One last trip to Saigon before I head home.

... runs the bar, and he doesn't have a clue what's going on. We stayed for an hour or so till midnight, then Ben decided to go back because he wasn't feeling too good, and I decided to join him; I felt okay but I'd more or less completely lost my voice through shouting over music for the last three hours. I wandered back through the streets and was soon in bed, though first had to leap over a sleeping security guard who had set up a bed complete with mosquito net in the doorway of the hotel.

... to the hotel. These arrangements consisted of a 3 men, a motorbike and a large wooden trailer attached to the motorbike!

The rest of the afternoon was left for us to explore, rest and check into our hotel. Simon and I decided to check out what Hoi An had to offer. I was a little side tracked however by the many shoe shops along the way. I decided a pair of sandals was a good idea, however the ones I liked didn't fit. I was about to move ...

... other around for several minutes until it climbed halfway up the curtains, with his tail protruding. Mark grabbed his tail, lifted him up and the tail promptly fell off. He threw it outside and the lizard also scurried out. As he closed the doors, Mark could see the tail still wriggling for about three minutes while the lizard just sat there sulking. Later it was gone and it has not been seen again.

There has still been a lot of ongoing Lifestart work. Mary has been doing a lot of ...

... maneuvered around and
held our breaths as trucks came hurtling the other way. At times we had
to cycle straight through and lifted our legs as high as the handle
bars to avoid being sprayed. When we arrived at the beach it was
completely deserted and a beach boy came out into the rain to meet us.
He pointed at the red flag and shook his head. ''No swimming?'' I
thought and then looking at the ocean we understood why. The tropical
down pour had stirred up ...

... We made mango salad, Rice paper (from scratch!! oh yes), Vietnamese pancakes.. which I'm sure many of you will have forced upon you when we return, they we soo nice! eggplant in clay pot thing and then made a rose out of tomatoe skin and a fan out of a cucumber. Very useful.
We had it all for lunch and it tasted good!

That afternoon we bought an old town ticket, which lets you into various sites. Wasn't that good really and we sacked it off after seeing some ...

Hi everyone! I've made it to Hoi An, as you can see from the map I'm over halfway down the coast of Vietnam now.

Sorry I didn't update you from Hue, but I was at a little bit of a low point, and didn't really have much to say. I think I may have hit the 'wall' travel-wise, do you know what I mean? I just needed a bit of normality, and to switch off for a while, but seemed to be getting harrassed at every turn.

It began when I reached Hue ...

... course! it was great craic! we met at 8am at the restaurant owned by red bridge cookery school where we had a complimentary drink before walking to the local market with our guide there were 12 of us altogether, split into two groups for the first part of the tour. in the market the guide walked us around a lot of the stalls, pointing out a multitude of fresh fish, squid, eels, crayfish and lobster all caught that morning, as well as the butchery section where animals ...

... been here. After dinner we walked back in the rain and hung out in our rooms. Andrew, Ash, Christa, and I all played this card game called Curenta. Its a rad game. Its a game that Andrew learned in Ecuador. Its great, and Ash and I rocked Christa and Andrew at it! ahah.
We got up the next morning around 7am and walked over for an amazinng continental breakfast. Ohh man I loved it. We all ...

... Mountain and China Beach. When we'd visited three years before, we'd biked out to Marble Mountain along the highway that was just then nearing completion. It was one of my favorite things about our trip from Saigon to Hanoi, and I thought it would be perfect for the family because they are avid bikers. Unfortunately, they are not avid fans of the heat -- and it was damn hot in Hoi An while we were there. So their interest in biking 40 miles ...