Dave and I arrived in Hoi An yesterday. We are half way down The east coast of Vietnam now. And it is warmer!
Hoi An is a coastal town most famous for its clothes shops. You can have anything you like made in these shops for next to nothing. There is also a great beach and lots of good bars.
Dave has been in his element in Hoi An as he has hired motor bike. He is fitting right in on the road...
Festivals seem to be following us around Vietnam. There was Valentines Day in Saigon (a big deal here), The Tet festival (New Year celebrations) in Hanoi, and we stumbled into Hoi An on the night of it's moon festival. We found out about this festival ironically when Dave's motorbike was taken off the footpath and 'put away' while we were in a pub. We were informed when we tried to get the bike that it had to be left where it was for the next 3 hours as a festival had started in the 'Old Quarter'. This festival involved all the shops turning their lights off and cars and bikes stopping (to restore the town to its original feel). There were lanterns and incense lit along the streets and lanterns floated down the river which runs through town. The whole town came out and enjoyed music - some very weird singing and pantomimes.
Our second day in Hoi An, Dave got a close shave in a barber shop then we rode the bike to the nearest beach (Cu Dai beach). This is just near the famous 'China Beach'. (Dave relates almost everything we see to the war... The beach was beautiful with lots of large thatched umbrellas spread along to sit under. We dipped our feet in the South China sea, then sat under an umbrella for another 'Tiger'. Of course as soon as we sat, we got hounded by people trying to sell us bits and pieces. One lady who was selling 'beauty' tried to epilady the hair from my legs by twisting cotton between her teeth and fingers. It bloody worked!
We are not heading to Dalat now, as we cant get a flight. We are catching the train down to Na Trang. It looks like we will have to catch the train all the way back down to Saigon over the next 5 days, which will be something new for us. Flights are just not working out for us.
Saw an elephant on the beach (it was there for organised rides), which was amazing.
We ran out of memory for our camera today. Dont suppose we will find another memory card in the places we are heading to. It also occurred to me over dinner tonight that Dave has managed to travel through the whole of Vietnam and managed to avoid eating rice!
6 comments:
Good day, it is good to travel with you. It seems that you have picked the wrong time of the year for air travel. Do you want us to pick you up when you get back? Til then enjoy the stay. Love Mum & Dad Mac.
Our camera ran out of memory in Hoi An as well, we just downloaded onto a CD, you can do that at any of the internet cafe's but you probably already know that!!
Enjoy. Loved Hoi An.
xo mark and erica
Well you sure are sounding happy,
I love travel and you are as far away as I would ever want to be.
Glad to read you are enjoying yourselfs so much.
Dave on a bike!
hehe :-)
I'm keeping track of your blog and I'm looking forward to hearing all the stories when you return safely to us here.
keep posting to us...
Regards,
The Anonymous Quiff.
Hello Dave and Lorelle , it was scary to read that Dave was riding a motor bike , do you need to have a license ??? or do you need prior experience ???,I hope you were on the correct side of the road , although that does not really worry Dave , I have only been with Dave once ( in a car ) and that was scary let alone behind him on the back seat of a bike , it sounds as though all is going well and we can be sure that Dave will present a very detailed report on the workings on inside " Bars " , hopefully he will have enough time to see some outdoor sights and activities before you return home , hope you have pleny of photos to show ( and outdoors not inside bars) , when you get back we are looking forward to having diner at a local Vietnamese Restaurant, we are interested to see if you have picked up any local lingo that we can empress the restaurantor ( no ordering by numbers ) , no complaints about the back so we presume all is OK , be safe , be carefull and have a good trip.
Hi Guys, hope you enjoy reading gary message re Dave's driving a bike. He was forget to put his name.
P.S. one of the plants had gone to heaven. Also found pair of pink undies frolicking on your balcony the other day. I think they are too big to be lorelle's,I have not seen any big ass chick's hanging around the pool etc. Weather for Melbourne on Tuesday will be 30 something. Can wait to hear all about your trip. See ya Joey Q.
Thanks for all the comments everyone...
Mum & Dad - we get back on Wednesday the 2nd. We will call from Singapore and let you know what time and wether to pick us up.
Erica and Mark - we found camera memory in Nha Trang at a good price.
Gary & Joe - you two had better watch out, I am a fully fledged biker now!
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