Sea and Sand Hotel Hoi An

... I had a wander on the opposite bank for a bit, then decided to head back. As I was walking back north up Le Loi I heard someone shout my name, and it was Anna, a girl I had met tubing in Vang Vieng and who Mark and I had last seen in Vientiane. She was with two friends, Hailey and [no idea]. What a coincidence! We had a brief chat and arranged to meet up for dinner at Cafe 43, which was obviously going to be my choice. I went back north to the hotel, only a five minute walk, and ...

... to the hotel we headed out in search of a decent tailor and were overwelmed with the choices available, there were literally hundreds of tailors, all with examples out the front and all with recommendations written in English outside their shops and all trying to get business from you claiming to be the cheapest and best quality. We ended up stumbling across a shoe shop first and left having ordered a pair of custom made trainers (complete with Tom's initials ...

... the front of our house like a bunch of old colonialists. Quite good, really. <br><br>Cath and Matt got into the swing of things at the GB Bar (a local café run by a couple of crazy Kiwis) and did a motorbike tour through the countryside with the GB boys, which gave them a taste of the real Viet Nam, different to the gentle city life of Hoi An. We went with them to the orphanage, and were pleasantly surprised. One hears horror stories, and apparently it was horrific seven years ago before ...

... a return visit here is required, to have more of a splurge! <br><br>Good cafes, restaurants, cake shops (addictive..), so I felt happy here on my own as there's plenty to do. On our first night, I ate in town, at one of the street stalls and had probably the best meal yet - just a simple chicken &amp; noodles, but it was delicious, followed by banana &amp; coconut pancake and 2 beers, all for the princely sum of about gbp 2.25 ...

... agentOne of the main things Leah wanted to get made in Hoi An was a long silk/satin dress, after looking in several shops with her indecisive mind she couldn't find a pattern she really like, it was our task to day to find the perfect pattern. Shock horror, the second shop on the way to breakfast we found it, Only taking a few minutes for measurements lea had herself the dress she wanted. we managed to get this dress for $20 after some brutal barging. The dress was ready within 4 hours ...

... with us, we booked into Red Bridge cooking school. This starts with a lovely drink at Hai Café, followed by a fascinating walk through the market, with our guide explaining everything to us. Then we boarded the Red Bridge boat and went along the river for about twenty minutes to the delightful restaurant. After a walk around their herb garden, we all made a range of courses, which we then ate. We stayed on in their pool for another 2-3 hours, which was very pleasant ...

... was understanding, although she obviously thought a ramp was necessary and had some ideas. Lisa chatted with the ladies, asking them about their histories, how they felt about the workshop, etc. and also told them about herself, including the silver medal she won at the Olympics for wheelchair basketball. The ladies were greatly impressed when she got out of her wheelchair to crawl down the steps and then clambered back in. It really showed them how Lisa empathized with their own ...

... their mouths brown.) Not very pretty or appetizing considering they were peeling the jackfruit I was about to eat. Disgusting! Oh well, I took the jackfruit and went on my way plopping the jackfruit merrily into my mouth trying not to think of what I just saw.<br><br> At the end of the day I got my fill of shopping but didn&#8217;t get my fill of eating. I wanted to eat more than my stomach would allow. The heat here suppresses my appetite. It was ...

Only 10 days to go! :o(<br><br>Hoi An is very interesting and different. A lot of historic buildings mixed with a huge tailoring industry, seemingly aimed entirely at tourists. I've enjoyed it here but it's been quite sad to see the entire old town filled 90%+ with tailors with all signage in English and I'm sure they've lost a lot of what originally made it a popular stop. There's just no diversity any more...<br><br>Although that didn't stop me ...

... to Jungle Beach.. we we went along for the ride. After a thirty minute ride through a huge barge dock/shipping yard and an old abandoned town, i was certain we were headed somewhere other than Jungle Beach .... but around 4:45 we arrive at a bamboo gate in the dark and can hear waves nearby... so after a lot of anxiety.. we ended up at "JUNGLE BEACH" (a French Canadian and his Vietnamese wife owned guesthouse far off the beaten track.. since ...