hoi an...

was beautiful. an old vietnamese town, with narrow little streets, and old fashioned houses over-hanging the street. it was right beside the river, with cute little cafes the whole way along, delicious food- a few nice local specialities, like prawn wanton, chao ley, and other yummy stuff. a nice change from noodles with pork, beef, fish or rice with pork, beef, fish....gettin just a wee bit sick of those dishes...! we got an amazing meal of 5 courses- all random stuff from the chef. it was fantastic- and all for about 3 quid...

also there were tailors everywhere, and they actually had lovely clothes. if only i had more room in my bag/money...! might actually have come back well dressed for a change. but as i say, didnt actually get anything for myself! they measure you up there and then and within 4 hrs you have a lovely new coat/trousers or whatever. they even make shoes there - chris has managed to lose 7 pairs of flip-flops in the last 3 months (dont ask! ok well one involved a big hole on new years eve ; ) , so he got a pair made perfectly fitted to his feet. definitely the way to shop- no more horrible changing room moments where nothing fits in the right places!!!!

hired bikes for the few days we were there which was really fun. a nice way to see the town and the area around it...

really loved hoi an- interesting a and not as manic as other places (relatively speaking!) had to move on too fast, as time was short but my favorite place in vietnam!

didnt mention that we went to dalat, up in the mountains before that. very pretty as well- and cold! did a lot of cycling there too- saw some nice waterfalls and random bits and pieces there. but also quite fdifferent, didnt feel like vietnam up in the mountains. maybe more like a little town in austri aor something?! kind of...

well, even tho this was ages ago, gotta go now. will try and catch up to more recent stuff (we are now in laos!) next time

speak soon

xxxx