Y Van Hotel Da Nang

... Fortunately we have been very lucky & not had a bad experience.

Tomorrow is going to be an early morning as we leave for our excursion @ 0630. We will be doing a full day touring around Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon)...oh ya.. and it is supposed to be 34 degrees...on the plus side.....and we have to wear long pants, long sleeves & shoes & socks to go into one of the temples on the tour.....oh joy!!

... leave Hoi An on 30th November, but will finish work on the 19th November. Our final visitors, Søren and Linda Larsen, from Denmark, will be here from 13th-20th November, and we are really looking forward to spending time with them. They hosted our daughter Joanna when she went to Denmark for two months student exchange about 13 years ago. Since then, their son has also done exchange at our place, Joanna has been back a couple of times, we have been to Denmark and they have come to Australia ...

... to go. Sigh. We found accommodation and then me and Nathan became transfixed by the Dr. Seuss film ‘Horton Hears a Who’ which has to be one of the best films ever with one of the best lines from a kids film - the elephant while running in slow-motion and being fired at with bananas by monkeys says ‘I do believe diplomatic relations are breaking down.’ Anyway that’s completely beside the point and also a few days after where I was so to backtrack from Hue ...

... of Hoi An if you had to put a face to it. Even though some people got stupid with alcohol it was a great to be there and talk to people. I met this amazing couple from the UK. They were hilarious. The lady (whose name skips my mind) and Guy (tulesh I wanna say that was his name) were Indian with thick British accents. We had a great talk about soccer, and how Tulesh's wife hates sports,but loves to shop. ahah. It ...

We had been warned that Danang was a bit rubbish but we quite enjoyed it (except for the rubbish weather!).

Danang is a business town so there didn't seem to be any other tourists which was quite nice after Hue. We only spent a couple of nights there; we visited the Museum of Cham Sculture which was weird! There were loads of stone carvings/sculptures that had been ...

... and they bloody turned the lights off at 8! Except for this, it was fine..

After a refresh we walk into Hoi An town itself - a lovely old town with probably some notable architecture that I had no idea about. The place is crammed with tailor shops - made famous (to me anyway) by that Top Gear episode where they go to Vietnam. Before ordering a new wardrobe we first explore the town a bit, buying a ticket to get into some of ...

... collection of six already. Some shops had lantern making on display. The ladies making the lanterns were strategically placed at the front of the store to entice curious passersby to part with their dong (Vietnamese currency). Behind them was a wall of brilliant lanterns in different colours, sizes and shapes. The bamboo skeletons for the lanterns were premade and bent into various shapes. The ladies’ work was to cover them with fancy fabric ...

The last month here has been amazing. I can't even tell you how much I've changed because of the people around me, the culture, teaching, and also the awesome power of God. Its been quite a trip so far. I actually just woke up, but wanted to ...

... unglaublich riesig, laut und alle wollen irgendwas (natu**lich Geld) von einem. Ich war auf jeden Fall froh, dass ich nicht vom Auto, Tuk Tuk od** sonst was ueb**fahren wurde und w**de auf meinem Rueckweg nochmal v**suchen, ein bisschen mehr von Bangkok zu sehen. Alleine beim Anflug auf Ha Noi war dann schon zu sehen, wie schoen Vietnam ist. Ich hab mich dann auch gleich in Ha Noi v**liebt, warum kann ich all**dings leid** auch noch nicht soo genau sagen ...

... on staying that night. Of course, I found out that China Beach was about 10km from the city and there were no buses going that way. As a backpacker, you don't have to try to look lost and confused. It's very simple: All you have to do is put your backpack on, look around at nothing in particular and pretend to read your useless guidebook and you stick out like a sore thumb. If you do this for long enough, eventually someone might attempt to help ...