Groundhog Day - Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An, Vietnam
It was like Groundhog Day today but it feels so good in Hoi An it's going to be so hard to leave. It's been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site and rightly so. It's a top place. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is next after a 17 hour sleeper train journey. It's apparently double manic there so it's going to be a big, big change. Got the bikes out to go into town for lunch and wandered around the quaint streets and alleyways in the sunshine. Vietnamese food was off the agenda after last nights feast so BLT, chips and Larue beer was just what was needed. After lunch we headed out to the beach and blagged the private beach of one of the plush hotels on the seafront. We had half an hour in the crashing waves and as we walked back to the sunbeds one of the Hotel's attendants came over with towels for us to dry off. Very VIP!! Headed back to the hotel and splashed about in the pool with Nil, the cheeky son of the owners. We weren't that hungry so went into town on the bikes and sat drinking fresh beer. They brew it quickly and serve it from the barrel. A glass of beer is 4000 dong which is just under 12p. We had 4 beers each, a plate of pork wontons and a plate of crispy meat spring rolls. The bar overlooked the canal and the bill was 122,000 dong which is about £3.60. Cycling back we picked up some cookies, water, peanut bars, a donut and a banana fritter from a street vendor for 80,000 dong = about £2.40. Night out for £6 in a really beautiful town is total madness but that's the way it is...