Home away from home

Although travelling is supposed to be about emersing yourself in the culture of the country you are visiting we found ourself in a situation where we really wished we weren't quite so emersed. On the way back from the farm stay we had to get a train quite late at night which meant there were no soft seats (the normal carriage for westerners!) which meant we were on what is known as a "hard seat". This is basically a park bench on a train! Not only did the seat make our bums go numb but we were squished into the carriage which was full of Vietnamese all trying to sleep everywhere, under the benches and up the ailes. Obviously westerners in the hard seats is a rare occurrence as many kept asking to see our tickets to check we were in the right place! Let's just say it was one of the longest journeys we went through in Vietnam. 

Our favourite bar!

The next stop on our journey south through Vietnam was Hoi An. This quickly became one of our favourite places which resulted in us extending our 2 nights to 5 nights! We stayed in a gorgeous hotel which was ten minutes away from both the beach and the town centre. Friends that we met at the farm stay also came to Hoi An and so we soon became a group of 6 and since 3 of them could drive motorbikes we conveniently had chauffeurs for the week! Hoi An is supposedly famous for it's numerous tailors, all of which are more than happy to take your measurements and produce your favourite item of clothing in a matter of hours. So obviously we took full advantage. After deciding to make our way down the line of shops and see where we could pick up a bargain, we stopped in the first shop and were hooked. We now each have a beautiful dress individually designed and fitted perfectly, all we need is a party!

Hoi An town centre

"Japanese Covered Bridge"

One of the sights we wanted to visit whilst in Hoi An was the Japanese Covered Bridge. Unfortunately due to some wrong information we thought we had found it, so took some pictures then left feeling it wasn't as impressive as we had expected. Turns out this is not the right bridge and the real covered bridge was just 2 minutes further down the river, around the corner!  

Riverside where festival took place

Luckily since we decided to stay longer we were able to see the lantern festival which takes place on the full moon. We unfortunately missed most of it but we did get there in time to set off a floating candle and take a quick boat ride on the river. What we noticed a lot throughout Vietnam is that the children are all able to speak a little english and so they are the ones that bargain with you whilst their parents wait for the money. It leaves you feeling rather mean when you are arguing with an 8 year old about a measly $1 difference.

Selling lanterns

Even though we were travelling down the coast this is the first place we hit the beach. Despite being bombarded by hawkers on the beach, the scenery was stunning and the water was gorgeous to swim in, so we spent a couple of days topping up our tan!

Hoi An Beach

Beautiful sunset 

On route to the airport our taxi driver insisted we had enough time to do some sight seeing, so we stopped briefly to see Marble Mountain. There were huge chunks of marble just lying around but also lots of shops selling marble statues. Unfortunately we had already exceeded our baggage allowance and so buying a statue was not an option.

Marble Mountain