02/10/11
Today in Nha Trang we had a free day to do whatever we wanted till we caught our overnight train to Hoi An. After a late start a few of us headed down to the beach to get a few quick photos before having a dip in the sea. With a late arrival at our hotel tomorrow I choose to keep snacking today so I could go without breakfast this morning - I have to admit this included having a Zinger meal from KFC! What you soon discover on trips like this is you soon miss certain groups of food from home. The main one that I have been craving is cheese which doesn't feature in food out here. The only way to get your fix is to have Western style food - so today I took a break from my Asian diet. Another thing that I have really been missing is music. I find myself at certain times humming or singing songs from home without realising I'm doing it. I don't think I knew that music mean so much to me - funny the things you miss!
With rain approaching from out to sea the rest of the afternoon was spend relaxing and playing cards back at the hotel. Our days with the sun seem to be slowly coming to an end as we travel further north, we know we are heading straight towards an approaching typhoon; the next few days are going to be wet! After a day long wait we finally boarded our overnight train which we were promised wouldn't be as nice as the last one. We soon find out why when the train pulls into the station to reveal it is already carrying passengers. Inside our beds for the night have already been used but we are able to find clean sheets. It's the other passengers we are not so happy about, these include cockroaches and mice! Luckily in my cabin we only seem to have the one mouse so things could be worst.
03/10/11 – 04/10/11
Today we arrived in Hoi An, this is the place where you can get tailored made clothes and shoes made for you in less than 24 hours, the price depend on what materials you use. We basically had two free days here to do whatever we wanted, but the main thing here to do is barter and shop. The old town by the river is a protected cultural area so most of the buildings are as they were originally built during the 19 century. As I didn’t want to get anything tailor made I join a group to witness the process for myself. They can literally make you anything you want, all you need is a basic idea of shape and design and then they run with the idea, selecting materials and colours and then taking your measurements. The shops are just a front to the process; everything is made off site probably all in the same place! After hitting a few shops and with several orders made by others in the group, a few of us went for a wonder around this very pretty town.
The next day in the pouring rain some of us rented out bicycles to go on a ride through the local countryside and then down to the beach. This was quite a refreshing change of pace as we gently (well most of the time) cycled around the rice paddies, local homes until we finally reached the raging sea. But on the way back one of the bikes sockets stopped turning so it had to be dragged alongside another bike with two people on it. The afternoon was spent roaming around town with people having fittings and buying souvenirs.
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