Well after the rather sleepless train ride we had a day of doing nothing but hanging out at the backpackers for the day until our overnight sleeper bus to Hoi An. We wasted the day with repacking our bags, eating some great food at Kangaroo Cafe (again) and getting out chip roll dinner prepared for the bus.
We headed to the bus at 7pm and got to choose our sleeping spots. The sleeper bus is rather unique as all the "beds" are very similar to pool loungers in that they look almost exactly the same, don't fold down as far, and are for skinny short people. All the sleeper buses have 2 levels with 3 in a row. Somehow we managed fine. The main things stopping us from getting sleep was in fact the bus driver. They really should learn to use their side mirrors in this country and then they wouldn't have to hoot at each other constantly! But we did get to meet some great people on the bus. Met Madeline (UK), Andre, Rafael & Breno (Baazil) who were in the seats behind us - they got the ones that are 5 in a row and super close together so it is more of a cuddle puddle than anything else.
We were meant to go straight on to Hoi An after the bus stopped in Hue, but because apparently the bus drivers in Vietnam are on their own schedule we missed the connection and had to spend 6 hours in Hue. We were tempted to maybe stay over the night, but the beach was calling our name. In fact it was calling the Brazilians and Mads too so they got the afternoon bus with us. That put us into Hoi An at 5pm and thankfully the hotel room we had reserved was still saved for us. After Sapa and Halong Bay, individual huge beds and a giant bathroom was a revelation. As was the air con.
Met up with the other 4 travellers and all headed out to get some dinner. Walked around a bit and then were drawn into a restaurant/bar called Before & Now that had great art on the walls and a great menu. It was definitely a meal to go a little off budget and treat ourselves after chip rolls on buses. After dinner we moved downstairs for some drinks, pool games and of course that old favourite Fooze Ball - turns out I am still not any better at Fooze Ball. Headed back to the comfort of our beds to dream about sunny beaches.
Got up the next day to discover conditions were perfect for a day at the beach. Had a quick breakfast and rented bicycles for 15,000VND (less than a $1) for the day, but our beach things in the front basket and headed off on a 4km ride to the beach. Such a nice ride as it was mainly flat and the traffic in Hoi An isn't even a 1/4 of Hanoi, so we weren't always in fear for our lives! Plus as it had been a very long time since any of us had ridden a bike it took us a while to get back into the hang of it. Had to pay 5,000VND to park our bikes at the beach side, but at least this way they are there when you got back. Went and set ourselves up in some dappled sunshine and lay around for ages reading and listening to music. Around midday the Brazilians and Mads found us so we headed over to the sun loungers and set up camp there. Turns out you can lie there all day for free as long as you order drinks and food from them - if only we had known sooner. Also got in a good amount of swimming - I can also tell you that the sea isn't as salty as home over here, no idea why though as Halong Bay was super salty. Spent the day at the beach until the sun set and it started getting cold. So much for getting a nap in! Headed back for showers and changing before heading out to dinner.
As a side note, we kept getting sucked into watching bad Vietnamese soap operas as long as they have subtitles. That are awful and yet at the same time SO good!
Headed to dinner at a cheaper restaurant right across the road from our hotel for dinner and big bottles of Tiger beer. The Brazilians are hilarious. Every time we go out for dinner they negotiate the price of beer so we can get it cheaper with claims that we will drink more. Personally I feel they would drink the exact same amount, but who is going to argue about cheaper beer when you are on a budget.
Then it was time to hit up some bars. We headed over the bridge to where there are a couple of places that have drink specials to reel you in. The place we ended up at gave you a free Rum and Coke and then it was buy one get one free on mixers. We all thought this was a great deal, until we tasted the free Rum. Or should I say Rhum. Never trust a bottle that can't spell the name of the alcohol in it correctly. That stuff was awful - you could fly planes on it. So we quickly moved on to 2 for the price of one, which I think is there plan. The best thing about this place was that they had a computer set up and you could choose the music you wanted to listen too with their iTunes. We were soon all throwing shapes to some awesome classics and trying out some rusty boy band moves too. Then it was back to Before & Now as we were actually the only people in the bar there. Nicola went home early as she had gotten absolutely zero sleep on the bus and was pretty exhausted. We only let her as we were pretty sure she would make it up to us on another night.
After some more pool and Fooze Ball (still no better than the night before) we found out that from this bar we could hop onto a free shuttle to a beach bar and carry on there when the bar in town shut down. Of course we were all up for this and headed out on the 1:30am shuttle. Once there we found to our delight that there was a swimming pool, so we instantly jumped in and cooled off. People arriving after us were giving us some strange looks but we knew the pool would fill up later on so we got in early. Then it was off to dry off on the dance floor. Next thing you know it is 3:45am and we are needing to get the free shuttle at 4am. Thank goodness there was a free shuttle as the skies had opened and it was a bit of a torrential downpour going on. We got decidedly wetter on the short walk from the shuttle drop off back to the hotel but with a warm bed to snuggle into we were soon dreaming of sunny days on the beach again.
Sadly this dream was not to be as the next day dawned overcast and drizzling. Best excuse ever to have a lie in though. Later in the day Stacey and Nicola went off to have some shoes and clothes tailored. Hoi An is apparently the place to go if you want a whole wardrobe tailored for you in a couple of days and costing hardly anything. I wondered down to the market place to check it out and just did a general wander around town. I really like it here. All the shops have great French architecture and it is all just so quaint. Because of the rain there was hardly anybody walking around either. Later on in the day I was on hand to help the girls decide what type of dress they should have tailored up and it was driving me nuts. All those pretty material and dresses and no shopping for this girl. Which is when the girls decided that for my birthday they would have me a dress made too. Great surprise and made an overcast day sunny again in my eyes. So got measured up, chose material and then headed back home happy. Met up with everyone again and headed to a restaurant I had seen earlier in my walkings around called Banana leaf Cafe. Had a really great meal there, and ended up really full and happy. That might have been mainly due to pumpkin soup and then a giant plate of home made pasta with great sauce. Just what I felt for after lots of rice dishes. Then it was an early night for all.
Next day was pretty much the same, except that we went and had outfits fitted and made slight adjustments to what had been made. Spent the rest of the afternoon in a french cafe drinking hot chocolate and plying card games with the Brazilians and Mads before they left on the sleeper bus. Once we said goodbye to them it was time for an early dinner and an early bedtime - after watching a cheesy movie on the movie channel, in English mind. We had also booked our sleeper bus ticket for the following night to Nha Trang to hopefully get some beach time in as the weather wasn't due to improve in Hoi An for a while.
Check out the next morning, collected all the tailored outfits, the girls posted their shoes back to the UK so they wouldn't have to carry around boots for three months in a hot climate. Had some dinner and got the restaurant there to make us up some peanut butter sandwiches for the bus ride. We were more than willing to pay an extra 2,000VND for extra peanut butter as there are very sparing with it in Vietnam. Then it was off to the night bus at 7pm and on to Nha Trang. Hooray the night bus!
More from Nicola soon on Nha Trang. Also as soon as were are back in a country where facebook isn't blocked we will be able to load up more pics and then share them with all of you.
We headed to the bus at 7pm and got to choose our sleeping spots. The sleeper bus is rather unique as all the "beds" are very similar to pool loungers in that they look almost exactly the same, don't fold down as far, and are for skinny short people. All the sleeper buses have 2 levels with 3 in a row. Somehow we managed fine. The main things stopping us from getting sleep was in fact the bus driver. They really should learn to use their side mirrors in this country and then they wouldn't have to hoot at each other constantly! But we did get to meet some great people on the bus. Met Madeline (UK), Andre, Rafael & Breno (Baazil) who were in the seats behind us - they got the ones that are 5 in a row and super close together so it is more of a cuddle puddle than anything else.
We were meant to go straight on to Hoi An after the bus stopped in Hue, but because apparently the bus drivers in Vietnam are on their own schedule we missed the connection and had to spend 6 hours in Hue. We were tempted to maybe stay over the night, but the beach was calling our name. In fact it was calling the Brazilians and Mads too so they got the afternoon bus with us. That put us into Hoi An at 5pm and thankfully the hotel room we had reserved was still saved for us. After Sapa and Halong Bay, individual huge beds and a giant bathroom was a revelation. As was the air con.
Met up with the other 4 travellers and all headed out to get some dinner. Walked around a bit and then were drawn into a restaurant/bar called Before & Now that had great art on the walls and a great menu. It was definitely a meal to go a little off budget and treat ourselves after chip rolls on buses. After dinner we moved downstairs for some drinks, pool games and of course that old favourite Fooze Ball - turns out I am still not any better at Fooze Ball. Headed back to the comfort of our beds to dream about sunny beaches.
Got up the next day to discover conditions were perfect for a day at the beach. Had a quick breakfast and rented bicycles for 15,000VND (less than a $1) for the day, but our beach things in the front basket and headed off on a 4km ride to the beach. Such a nice ride as it was mainly flat and the traffic in Hoi An isn't even a 1/4 of Hanoi, so we weren't always in fear for our lives! Plus as it had been a very long time since any of us had ridden a bike it took us a while to get back into the hang of it. Had to pay 5,000VND to park our bikes at the beach side, but at least this way they are there when you got back. Went and set ourselves up in some dappled sunshine and lay around for ages reading and listening to music. Around midday the Brazilians and Mads found us so we headed over to the sun loungers and set up camp there. Turns out you can lie there all day for free as long as you order drinks and food from them - if only we had known sooner. Also got in a good amount of swimming - I can also tell you that the sea isn't as salty as home over here, no idea why though as Halong Bay was super salty. Spent the day at the beach until the sun set and it started getting cold. So much for getting a nap in! Headed back for showers and changing before heading out to dinner.
As a side note, we kept getting sucked into watching bad Vietnamese soap operas as long as they have subtitles. That are awful and yet at the same time SO good!
Headed to dinner at a cheaper restaurant right across the road from our hotel for dinner and big bottles of Tiger beer. The Brazilians are hilarious. Every time we go out for dinner they negotiate the price of beer so we can get it cheaper with claims that we will drink more. Personally I feel they would drink the exact same amount, but who is going to argue about cheaper beer when you are on a budget.
Then it was time to hit up some bars. We headed over the bridge to where there are a couple of places that have drink specials to reel you in. The place we ended up at gave you a free Rum and Coke and then it was buy one get one free on mixers. We all thought this was a great deal, until we tasted the free Rum. Or should I say Rhum. Never trust a bottle that can't spell the name of the alcohol in it correctly. That stuff was awful - you could fly planes on it. So we quickly moved on to 2 for the price of one, which I think is there plan. The best thing about this place was that they had a computer set up and you could choose the music you wanted to listen too with their iTunes. We were soon all throwing shapes to some awesome classics and trying out some rusty boy band moves too. Then it was back to Before & Now as we were actually the only people in the bar there. Nicola went home early as she had gotten absolutely zero sleep on the bus and was pretty exhausted. We only let her as we were pretty sure she would make it up to us on another night.
After some more pool and Fooze Ball (still no better than the night before) we found out that from this bar we could hop onto a free shuttle to a beach bar and carry on there when the bar in town shut down. Of course we were all up for this and headed out on the 1:30am shuttle. Once there we found to our delight that there was a swimming pool, so we instantly jumped in and cooled off. People arriving after us were giving us some strange looks but we knew the pool would fill up later on so we got in early. Then it was off to dry off on the dance floor. Next thing you know it is 3:45am and we are needing to get the free shuttle at 4am. Thank goodness there was a free shuttle as the skies had opened and it was a bit of a torrential downpour going on. We got decidedly wetter on the short walk from the shuttle drop off back to the hotel but with a warm bed to snuggle into we were soon dreaming of sunny days on the beach again.
Sadly this dream was not to be as the next day dawned overcast and drizzling. Best excuse ever to have a lie in though. Later in the day Stacey and Nicola went off to have some shoes and clothes tailored. Hoi An is apparently the place to go if you want a whole wardrobe tailored for you in a couple of days and costing hardly anything. I wondered down to the market place to check it out and just did a general wander around town. I really like it here. All the shops have great French architecture and it is all just so quaint. Because of the rain there was hardly anybody walking around either. Later on in the day I was on hand to help the girls decide what type of dress they should have tailored up and it was driving me nuts. All those pretty material and dresses and no shopping for this girl. Which is when the girls decided that for my birthday they would have me a dress made too. Great surprise and made an overcast day sunny again in my eyes. So got measured up, chose material and then headed back home happy. Met up with everyone again and headed to a restaurant I had seen earlier in my walkings around called Banana leaf Cafe. Had a really great meal there, and ended up really full and happy. That might have been mainly due to pumpkin soup and then a giant plate of home made pasta with great sauce. Just what I felt for after lots of rice dishes. Then it was an early night for all.
Next day was pretty much the same, except that we went and had outfits fitted and made slight adjustments to what had been made. Spent the rest of the afternoon in a french cafe drinking hot chocolate and plying card games with the Brazilians and Mads before they left on the sleeper bus. Once we said goodbye to them it was time for an early dinner and an early bedtime - after watching a cheesy movie on the movie channel, in English mind. We had also booked our sleeper bus ticket for the following night to Nha Trang to hopefully get some beach time in as the weather wasn't due to improve in Hoi An for a while.
Check out the next morning, collected all the tailored outfits, the girls posted their shoes back to the UK so they wouldn't have to carry around boots for three months in a hot climate. Had some dinner and got the restaurant there to make us up some peanut butter sandwiches for the bus ride. We were more than willing to pay an extra 2,000VND for extra peanut butter as there are very sparing with it in Vietnam. Then it was off to the night bus at 7pm and on to Nha Trang. Hooray the night bus!
More from Nicola soon on Nha Trang. Also as soon as were are back in a country where facebook isn't blocked we will be able to load up more pics and then share them with all of you.
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