Hoi An you so pretty

Sat 16 June

We went back via tuktuk to Siem Reap's pretty pretty airport (still the prettiest to date), we flew Silk Air into Vietnam – it was sweet we got a water, an orange juice and cinnamon bun thing!  We had got an e-visa so we had to go to a hole in the wall at the Da nang airport just by immigration to get out special sticker in our passports, so we could get through – the guy doing the stamping was not the friendliest of chaps – they never seem to be.  From there we had a taxi ride into Hoi An, the taxi man had a bit of trouble finding our hotel that was a pain in the ass all I wanted to do was have a shower and feast.  Sunshine Hotel (cheese much) was the bomb, it was built this year and was well flash and had a pool, we were pretty stoked with it.

Sun 17 June

Jumped on our little bycicles and rode into town today. We perused the streets, saw an interesting site, a toddler came out onto the street pulled down her pants and went for a pee, it was hilarious.  People love to toot here, seriously all you hear it tooting whilst out near the roads. 

Hoi An is a beautiful place, in the center of town is the old French influenced buildings, it was so much fun checking everything out.

 

For lunch we had the 3 famous dishes famous in Hoi An, Fried Wontons, White Rose and Cau Lau – which is now my favourite asian dish – unfortunately we have not found it outside of Hoi An, cry.

fried wontons

white rose

partially destroyed cau lau

Being the city of tailors and shoe makers, we had to indulge, I got some shoes made for me.  There are so many shops around with all the clothes on display and all the shoes they can make, “Lady you want shoe?”

extreme biking

So the beach was 1km away according to the lady at the desk, sweet so we were off on the bikes, following her directions – either she meant to 10km or we missed the turn off,  we peddled for ages past heaps of paddy fields which was cool to see people working in them.  

Finally got to the beach and then we had to pay to park our bikes! What a gip. The beach was littered with batty palm tree umbrellas and loungers you could hire to sit on , and rubber rings (asians aren’t that flash at swimming).  

look at all the boobies

batty boats they use a special paddling technique

We went for a swim I got that darkest looks from these 2 asian teenage girls near us as I walked into the water in god forbid a bikini, then in turn they went swimming with their boyfriends fully clothes ( long sleeved tops and jeans) – and I’m the weirdo? Nuts.

this cow did not give a shit, cars just swerved around him

bought 3 of these bad boys

Mon 18 June

While we were waiting for me to have my shoe fitting, we cruised around and ell saw a jacket on display he liked, so we got that sized up, then oh I found a jacket I liked, got that sized up too, and then of course ell needed some jeans too.

Spent the rest of the day chilling out, then headed back into town to get our clothes fitted and then I had to order another jacket because the first one was so good…

Tues 19 June

the sneaky ladies that punked me

Today whilst tootling around waiting to pick up our clothes, I’m cycling along side the river, pausing to take some pics of a building when these 2 old ladies in canoes go to “ photo photo”, I’m thinking ok that’s strange they want a photo taken but ok, so took a picture, THEN they say “money money” oh those sneaky sneaky ladies totally punked me! However I just said no a peddled my ass away from them.

The Japanese Bridge

the houses are really slim in vietnam

We checked out and hung out by the pool until 5pm when we got a taxi to the bus station to get the sleeper bus (12 hours) to Nha Trang (south).  What an experience this was going to be, we got into the back of the bus and shared the back with 2 American chicks.  You have a chair that is on the floor that is capable of reclining.  It was ok but because I was sunburnt I had to keep peeling my carcuss off the seat was kinda gross.  I would describe the trip as hopping on the Goldrush ride at Rainbows end and thinking oh I’ll have a nap now!, it was a bumpy ride.

sunset leaving Hoi An on the sleeper bus