Hoi An - Shopping

Having a beer with Les in Before & Now Bar
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Within minutes of arriving in the town of Hoi An I knew I was going to love it. The bus journey from the Hue took about 4 hours but it was a nice drive. The town is full of character and has a real charm about it. There are tailors on every corner, all offering to make you a custom wardrobe at a bargain price. As I am meant to be travelling light (something I am not doing very well) I only had US$150 worth of clothes made up and for that I got 4 summer dresses, 2 cotton skirts and matching tops & one silk party dress for Christmas in Sydney!!

Chatting to the staff
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The streets are also dotted with handicraft shops, some of which have beautiful stuff - if only I was heading straight home to Ireland  would have shopped up a storm. Apart from all the shopping, Hoi An has some really ncie bars, cafes and restaurants to chill out at - my favourite being Before & Now bar & The Cargo Club restaurant.

It is the perfect spot to catch up on some beach reading - oh it is a tough life over here!!

One of the many dinners with the ladies!
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For my first 2 days in Hoi An though I was pretty much stuck in bed as I had a killer sore throat - brought on my the fan in my face in a hotel room and I am sure drinking didn't help! So I dragged myself to a chemist one day to get a prescription, they give you anything over the counter here & started swallowing some pills. When I woke up the next morning I discovered all these red blotches on my skin so checked the pack again & it turned out there were traces of penicillen in the anti-biotics, which I am allergic to. Luckily nothing more happened, I just stopped taking them and was fine with a few hours!

Yup, I was playing jenga again
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In spite of that drama I loved Hoi An so much that I stayed just under a week. I met up with 2 girls I done my Halong Bay trip with, Ellie & Steph, and also met a Canadian girl Katie so we have been hanging out together all the time and are going to travel down to Nah Trang together to continue the good times!

The nearby beach in Hoi An that we have been hanging out at was amazing amazing - we paid $US1.50 each to hitch a motorbike ride there & back. I am now a pro at hopping on the back on bikes, wind blowing in the hair! Once at the beach you are surrounded by white sand and the most amazing water. It is the perfect spot to catch up on some beach reading - oh it is a tough life over here!!