Transfer to Hoi An

A grey drizzly day. We were picked up by a private car for our 3 hour transfer to Hoi An. After about an hour we arrived at the small town of Lang Co which has one of the best beaches in the area. We actually stopped near the lagoon for a short stop.

It's what we call a black and white day!

There was a man on the beach twisting old bike tyres to release the oysters that had attached themselves. We wondered why there were piles of old bike tyres along the roadside - now we know!

We then continued our journey along the Hai Van Pass. It is surrounded by rolling hills and green valleys so the scenery is quite spectacular from the top, except today.... it was very misty and a bit drizzly. We got to the top and we were supposed to stop to admire the view, but there was nothing to see due to the cloud and mist. At least it saved us from the hawkers trying to sell cheap jewellery or tiger balm. We did stop on the way down on the other side for a photo shoot.

Next town was Danang. A lot of development going on here, huge hotel complexes built or being built all along the beach front. A little further on and we arrived at Hoi An.

We are staying in the Koi Resort and Spa which is on the beach about 3 kms from the old town.

The hotel is quite nice, not as good as the last 2 hotels and they did not offer us an upgrade. Never mind , 2 out of 3 is not bad. The staff are all very friendly and chatty, especially Yummy! She told us her real name is Dung but after finding out what it meant in English, she decided she would rather be known as Yummy.

The weather was a bit drizzly so we decided to have a bit of a chill and then we got the free shuttle bus into Hoi An Old Town. What a beautiful place! It is located on the Thu Bon River and was an important trading port from the 16th to 18th century. It attracted traders from China, Japan, and even Europe. The town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. We arrived at dusk , the drizzle stopped and so did we for a drink in one of the rooftop bars. All of the buildings are only 2 storeys, so not your high rise rooftop.

The whole town is decorated with brightly coloured Chinese lanterns, so we watched the town gradually come alight. There is a beautiful decorated bridge that links to the island where the night market is. People buy paper lanterns with a candle in them and set them afloat on the river. It really is quite a beautiful spectacle.

A little later, we headed to Brothers Cafe, where we were booked in for our complimentary dinner. What a great building - colonial style on the bank of the river with lily ponds and what we think were very noisy frogs. They gave us the best table in the house with fresh flowers and a great view. We were to have a Vietnamese set menu of banana flower salad with shredded chicken on prawn crackers, crispy beef with a spicy plum sauce, pork with 5 flavours, braised fish in a clay pot, steamed greens and rice, followed by banana fritter.

After dinner, we continued on a stroll over the bridge and thru the night market, before hunting down a taxi to take us back to the hotel. It took us a while to get in to our room as our room card would not work. A number of young men, a variety of tools , a change of battery and about 20 minutes later we finally gained entry.

We have decided to go on a cookery class tomorrow morning. So I sent a couple of emails on our return to the hotel and we are booked in with one that is highly recommended on trusty TripAdvisor.