Thursday 8 January 2009

Day 14 – Hoi An

January 7th 2009
Ahhhhhhhh...

The cloud is much patchier today so there's some good spells of sunshine. We read our books relaxing by the pool which is sparsely populated except for obligatory group of screaming kids – Aussies of course – but to be fair they're not that bad and there is only a few of them.

The volume of Aussies here, and in the town itself, I think goes some way to answering my question of yesterday as to who will come here when all the fancy hotels have been built, the largest population will I suspect be Australian.

Having read for a while we head down to the beach and I have a good splash around in the waves. The sea is lovely and warm but I don't venture out too far as the currents are incredibly strong. Even just jumping the waves though I can see the attraction of surfing, being within the power of the sea is fantastic. Can't stay in too long though as it's quite tiring keeping in line with Sarah on the beach.

Back to the pool for a bit and more reading, spot of lunch. The clouds have started to form again now and are pretty dark. A few spots of rain just as we're finishing our lunch and we decide it's time to head back to the room anyway. Good job as it turns out as within 5 minutes we have a deluge. Seems like this is the time of day for rain, mid afternoon, as it coincides with our arrival yesterday when it had obviously just rained. Doesn't last long and keeps everything lush that's for sure.

More reading then we get changed and take the hotel's private car into Hoi An for another walk round, a bit of shopping, and something to eat.

Stopping in a guidebook recommended restaurant we feel we sample real Vietnamese food for perhaps the first time. Sarah has a set menu while I order separately just to avoid the shellfish and within just a few minutes our table is full of small plates and bowls. Wanton soup, White Roses, Fried Wanton and the Hoi An speciality Cao Lao – a bowl of noodles and pork with a small amount of broth in the bottom (as opposed to the noodle/meat “soups” that you get everywhere else). Doesn't seem to taste of much but after a while our mouths are subtly tingling, it's quite strange but certainly not unpleasant. Ridiculous prices again, both our meals with a beer and large bottle of water comes to £7.

We get the last seats on the shuttle bus sitting next to some English people who've been in Vietnam for a while, traveling in the opposite direction to us. We're the first English people they've met which sums it up round here.

Back to the room to pack for tomorrow and we complete the evening watching a film on the computer.

Power relaxing indeed...

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