Hanoi to Hoi An
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2005
1
13
43
Trip End
Aug 24, 2005
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Monday, March 14, 2005
Hoi An. We'd bought an 'Open Ticket' which basically works through from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City allowing you to stop off anywhere on the list along the way. Despite being sold a tourist bus ticket, the bus was rammed full of locals. The air con was switched off and we were dying with heat, eventually I asked for it to be turned on much to the displeasure of the locals. Hue was the first port of call and as we were only there to
make our connecting bus, we were given 3 hours to sightsee. We'd met a few people on the bus and so 4 of us hired some moped drivers for $2 and we scooted round the town seeing the ancient Citadel and former Kings of the Dynasty's tombs before getting another bus down to Hoi An. The coach tours seem to have a scheme set up with certain hotels and so you get dropped off at their door, this happened in Hoi An and as I was collecting my rucksack, I bumped into Dave, Mel, Rob and Leila.
They were waiting for their bus down to Nha Trang leaving some 30 minutes
after I'd caught them up - turns out we ended up staying in the same room as them. Leila had decided that she is moving on on her own to catch up
with her friend in Malaysia so the group has really split up for the time
being into 3 segments.
Hoi An is a quaint little town on the river and its claim to fame is through its vast amounts of taliors.
Celebrating St. Paddy's Day
Everything is tailor made and people go there from Saigon literally to get a new wardrobe. I met so many people who had spent 300quid plus on suits, winter coats, silk scarves, trousers etc etc and were shipping them all home adding another ton. I was somewhat more reserved conscience of the limited space in the rucksack. The quality was good and the fit is perfect as you'd expect. I also had some traniners and black shoes made up, some girls I met had 9 pairs of boots made each!!! I had some white swim shorts made up which go see-thru when wet - nice one!! I've managed to rip a hole in the crotch of the combat shorts but other than that they and the shirt and trousers are great.
The people of Vietnam are as friendly as anywhere I've been so far and Laurence and I found ourselves playing pool with locals most nights, we were invited back to a restaurant owner's house to look at photos of her daughters, we soon left when she starting talking about marriage!!!
Hoi An has an incredible beach and with the exception of Cat Ba Island beach, it was the first beach we could really relax. We hired a moped to get there as its 4km away and I managed to drive it into a wall twice on my practice run!! The handle break is pretty useless as there is a foot break and the accelerator is on the same handle so I ended up pulling more torque rather than breaking -d'oh, the locals found it funny anyway! I
managed to lose my mobile phone whilst playing football on the beach, not sure if
it was stolen or fell out, either way that too has gone!!
We spent a few days in Hoi An, basically waiting for my clothes to be
made before moving on to Nha Trang.
