The Only Place To Get Clothes Made - Hoi An

The covered Japanese Bridge, Hanoi
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We took an overnight bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An which left Nha Trang at 7.30pm and finally arrived into Hoi An at 7am - will definately not repeat this exercise - numb legs and other things and about 10 mins sleep for the whole journey.  Mind the bus only worked out around USD5 each which wasn't bad, however its train all the way for us now!

Found a nice hotel after walking for around 20 mins with our heavy packs for USD8 which included air con, TV, ensuite and fridge.

The temples were hit quite badly during the war and some were destroyed

View of Hanoi Old Town
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After a couple of hours sleep we took a walk out for lunch.  First impressions of Hoi An are really positive.  Its a fairly small town and everything is within walking distance.  The real gem is the old town which is situated around the river.  Lots of tailor shops where you can get made to measure garments at fantastic prices.  The shops liternally line streets and streets - there must be hundreds of places to get clothing made.  We ordered some clothes - I had a linen skirt made and Lee had some combat trousers made - both for USD18 - really nice too and they only took 24 hours from first ordering them to walking out the shop and that included fittings.

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Vietnam is also a good place to send parcels home.  We sent a 6kg parcel seamail for around USD35 including packing - not bad, although it will take up to 4 months to get there and we had to complete something like 10 forms - not exagerating!

Visited My Son today which are temple ruins from the 8th century.  Its appearance is similar to Angkor Wat but on a much smaller scale and not nearly as good a condition as Angkor.  The temples were hit quite badly during the war and some were destroyed - you can still see the craters where the B52 bombs hit.  After leaving here we took a boat for the journey back to Hoi An along the Bon River and had a lunch of spring rolls and rice onboard in our laps.  Really lovely way to finish the day.