Thien Trung Hotel

Probably my favourite place in Viet Nam. The town was a nice size and all the buildings were very attractive, there were lots of bars on the river serving 10p Bia Hoi and a good beach a 15 minute cycle ride away.

After a very uncomfortable sleeper bus, we were all shattered and first thing we did when we got to the hotel was got back to bed. Got up in time for lunch, then Jonny and myself went to the beach in the afternoon. That evening the others had a few Bia Hoi's on the river and the went to take advantage of the 1 hour free rum + coke, arriving 45 minutes late but still drinking 4 each. We then went to a few more bars and on to a beach party, which was a massive anticlimax with about 15 people there.

Had a few more beach days in Hoi An, where pretty much all we did was swim, play cards and read. Hoi An also had a big market which we visited a few times to pick up some presents.

Being famous for its custom made clothes and shoes, some of us could not resirt. Jonny had some Puma Addidas Nike hybrid football boots made called Pudadikes, and I had a jacket made for just under $30. We ended up shipping a lot of stuff back to England that we had bought in Hoi An and stuff we had in our bags that we realised we just didnt need (like jeans).

The best day in Hoi An was our tour with Mr. Trung, who we had met working at a restaurant on the river front. Starting at 8.00am we cycled to his village where he told us about its history of fishing and pottery. We then went on to pottery, where we tried our luck, our sucess increased with the amount of help we recieved. Iggy had no help. We were then taken fishing in the river for small fish. I got 4, Jonny 3, Sims 2 and Iggy 1. Next was lunch at his house, Mrs Trung had prepared a huge delicious meal, the food was delicious. Spring rolls, noodles, fish and rice and then fruit.