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Between Hue and Hoi An

Ali and I had decided to get up early and do the full day tour to Hoi An, which took longer, but had a more scenic route and left Hue and arrived in Hoi An earlier.

Fishermen at China Beach

When we arrived in Hoi An we had a real problem getting to the hotel we wanted. We'd already consulted our guide books and decided the rough area we wanted to be in, and when the bus transferred us to a minibus this was where we asked to be taken to. Instead, the driver took us to hotel of his choosing on the outskirts of the town. No-one on the minibus had asked to go here, so presumably he was on a backhander from the owners. I found out later that hotel touts get paid for everyone who looks at a hotel room, whether or not they decide to stay. We all stayed on the bus, despite his exhortations to "just go and look". So, he drove us to another hotel, on the other side of town.

A narrow street

By the river

Ali and I had a wander around town and two things struck us. The first was how pretty, in a French kind of way Hoi An was. The second was how many suit shops there were. We walked down to the river, settled down for a drink and took in the view (left).

Dan, Becky and Renate had decided to take the fast bus down in the afternoon, which let them have a lie-in, and didn't make any tourist stops.

Kids playing opposite the smaller Tam Tam

A little bit of France

In gratitude for their help, we went back to the smaller and cheaper of the Tam Tam's and had some fairly ordinary food while the woman from the shop next door did her best to sell us her services as a purveyor of suits. I wasn't particularly interested - I was probably going to buy a suit, but this wasn't the time or place. Becky, and to a lesser extent, Dan were really up for it though.

Working buffalo on the way to the beach

We eventually found out that the afternoon bus had been late and by the time they arrived and had been given the same pointless tour that we had had, all the good hotels were full, so they'd had to go to one of the grotty ones out of town.

Propaganda

The next day was to be an R & R day, which was just as well as it took all morning for Renate, Dan and Becky to move hotels to somewhere closer and nicer. Renate moved into our hotel; Dan and Becky went somewhere else first, then over lunch decided to move into ours as well. But after all the faffing was over we hired bikes and went to the beach, passing many hand painted advertising boards, most of them, as far as I could tell, political slogans. This one (right) was my favourite.

Hoi An market

At the beach, after parking the bikes, we were greeted by a group of pineapple sellers, all school aged kids. They told us that their parents had to pay to send them to school, and the only way they could afford that was if we bought pineapples from them. Ali promised to buy one on the way back.

The deal at the beach was, if you agreed to buy something from one of the beach restaurants, they would let you sit on their sun chairs. Their prices were quite expensive (for Vietnam at least), but an overpriced drink was still less than I was willing to pay for chair, so I settled down in one. As we sunned ourselves, we were periodically interrupted by more pineapple sellers, and vendors of other foods, drinks and sundry other items. Supposedly the local government had cracked down on hawkers on the beach, so it must have been well bad before.

On the way back to the bikes the little girl who Ali had agreed to buy a pineapple from later ran towards us, exclaiming "You buy pineapple from me now!" It wasn't a question.

The Japanese bridge

The Japanese bridge

I wanted to get a photo of the Japanese Bridge, and the next morning provided the first opportunity. I was just setting up a shot, when a party of French tourists turned up, wandered in front of it and back and forth along it. They were nearly finished when a group of Americans turned up to look at the Chinese Bridge, and then proceeded to stand in front of it and chat. But eventually the crowds cleared enough to take these pictures.

Renate, Becky, Dan and Ali

We all met up in the afternoon, surprisingly well given that we all seemed to be on different time zones, and went on a boat trip.

Tour operators

I'd been looking at the suit prices for the last couple of days, and finally decided that even though I didn't need a suit for work, at around $25 they were too good to miss. I went to a couple of shops and was shown the equivalent of Freeman's catalogues, which weren't especially inspiring. The third shop I tried, however, had some fashion magazines, and so I ordered a replica Paul Smith suit. Whether the result was any different to a replica Freeman's suit I'm not qualified to say.

Chris and Ali being rowed down the river

Renate, Dan and Becky, doing likewise

After dinner, what should have been a quiet night ended as a piss up, after Dan met some mates from home in the bar where we'd intended to stop for a quick drink on the way home.

I duly picked up the suit the next morning - it fitted first time, which really surprised me. Obviously I'm not fussy enough (about suits at least). I hired another bike and cycled to the beach by myself, bumping into Renate on the way. Sooner or later, after they'd finished their own shopping, everyone else joined us.

Ali and I were leaving for Nha Trang that night, so it was time to pack. Unfortunately, the suit was the straw that broke the rucksacks back, so I'd either have to carry a separate carrier bag or buy a proper one. I decided on the latter course, and adopted an all-or-nothing haggling technique - I decided what I was willing to pay, offered it, and walked away if they wouldn't come down to it.

Rush hour

We saw Renate off on the night bus to Ho Chi Minh, and a little while later Ali and I were on the minibus to Nha Trang. The journey wasn't bad (it was terminally worse for the poor dog who strayed in front of the wheels), though I didn't sleep much. Vietnamese minibuses are slightly less scary than their Thai counterparts, but probably only because of the lack of other traffic on the road. That it was dark also helped.

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Last modified on 22nd December 2007 3:31 PM EST

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