Thien Thanh Hotel Hoi An

Wow, I love Hoi An. This is the silk capital of Vietnam, and there are shops everywhere that will make anything for you. So we decided we need some R&R and spent the day relaxing and shopping! Gave the sightseeing a rest. So it was a pretty uneventful day overall, I got 4 dresses and 2 pairs of sandals made, had a facial and a manicure, bought a few presents and some jewellery. The sun actually came out for a while too but it is cold again now. I am getting suspicious that the bad weather is ...

Arriving in Hoi An, I got a moto to the hotel area. I stayed at Thien Thanh Hotel because it looked quite nice and had a pool, which I wanted to lounge around as I was on my own. My stay here was ok, until Dave tried to check in and they raised the rates. After we decided to check out rather than pay more money, they tried to charge for an extra day at the end. A heated argument later, we were checked into another hotel down the street for half of what they were trying to charge us. I would w...

Upon entry to Central Vietnam we could feel the vibe change - the locals actually like us here! I guess this because both Hue and Hoi An were on the same side as the Americans in the "American War". We spent our one day in Hue mostly cruising the Perfume River on a dragon boat with a local family with very cute little girls. The dad motored the boat, the mom cooked us lunch, and the kids charmed us (into opening our pocketbooks). Along the way on the river we stopped at a beautiful ancient pa...

Well, now that you have heard the real story we expect that you will doubt the veracity of anything that Steve and I report. However, nothing surprised us about Bryce's version of events--the only disappointment is that while he can write a full narrative, only 3 sentences can be managed in his journal (and it is mostly about the food he did or didn't like--same for Reid--sorry Miss R and Mrs. F). Anyway, just a few notes about Hoi An where we have spent the last 3 days. It is a pretty city (...

Day 25 - Wednesday 24/11/04 Nha Trang - Hoi An Up at 5.15, downstairs at 6 on time for the bus as required - and the bus picked us up at 7.15 - ****ers. The daylight section of the drive was lovely - there was some lovely scenic views - it's amazing how much of the country is flooded for rice. The coast was amazing too - with fields for fish! There were some lovely beach stops too but the weather wasn't nice enough to entice us into the water. The latter part of the journey was in the dark an...

We left Hue yesterday on the 8am bus. En route to the city of Hoi An, we stopped by the China Sea coastline, and the famous Marble Mountains. These craggy, sharp mountains are the source of most of the marble of older Vietnam (but not recent Vietnam; they've overused the marble so much that now they import marble from JAPAN), and overlook China Beach, made famous by the 1980s TV series (which I never watched. Anyway). We arrived in Hoi An at 12pm. Here is what could happen when you change you...

This little town sucks you in. No joke. What has begun as "I will have a dress made" has morphed into a dress shirt with custom embroidery and a silk blouse for me, and a linen shirt for Matt. And he picked up a swimsuit. And now I can hear the handmade purses and boots calling my name. I am not a shopper, but you see yourself in the mirror with these beautiful handmade garments, costing about $10, and you think, well, what's another $10? And then you tell yourself it's really a selfless gest...

For a little town filled with such lazy, amazing days, yesterday was by far the most awe-inspiring. We were picked up at 8am at our little hotel by a tourist bus service, and we headed 35km inland to the west to the most archaeologically important site in all Vietnam- My Son (pronounced "mee sun"). It is to Vietnam what Angkor Wat is to Cambodia, and what Macchu Picchu is to Peru (if you don't know what those places are, edumacate yourself on Wikipedia and start dreaming about visiting them!!...

on the second of november, yesterday, i turned 26, in hoi an, vietnam! and what an obscure day! rather than spending a cold, and probably rainy, day working before going out with friends from southampton, i spent the morning at the tailors, the afternoon strolling around the old town and swimming in the south china sea, and the night eating vietnamese food and drinking cheap bia hoi and cocktails! anyway, before i could turn 26, i had to spend my last few days as a 25 year old in the north of...

wednesday 22 october contd. ok so, after arguing with the taxi man to stop the car because we suspected he was taking us the wrong way so as to clock up the money on the meter, we paid the man, to which we, again, were given the wrong change, after he asked that the final 5,000 dong change go to him - not that he was worth it, but i couldn't be bothered to argue the matter or over the 20p that dong represented - and we headed off round the corner to discover that actually he had taken us to t...