Monday brings a new town

Monday morning alarm rang loud and clear at 6:30am - up and packed, breakfast was next and then picked up by the bus at 7:45.  Possibly the best bus journey yet (the seats actually fit our long legs in!) and 4 hours passed by very pleasantly.

We took the coast road from Hue to Hoi An via Danang and rode alongside China Beach - apparently where the Americans hung out during the war - now a strip where every big named hotel was springing up!  Passing by the Marble Mountains was an extra treat - they are 5 peaks in between Danang and Hoi An that have 5 pagodas on top (one for each element).

Arriving in Hoi An at midday we were greeted by a member of staff from our new hotel - Hoang Trinh hotel, after a short ride to the hotel we were welcomed into the reception, given a cup of cinnamon tea and cake.  After being shown to our 'traditional' room we were beginning to love Hoi An already...especially after seeing the His and Hers toothbrush holders in the bathroom...and we won't even mention the matching purple silk dressing gowns (no photos of those i'm afraid - they are made to fit umpa lumpas you see!).  Oh, and Ben had a rather strange cuddly toy on his bed - see photo.

Unpacked and sorted we armed ourselves with a map and headed out to explore the town, stopping off for a spot of lunch at Bo Bo's cafe - the wonton noodle soup was delicious!  We also discovered the 'local brew', apparently brewed fresh and with no preservatives it was definetly the cheapest pint either of us have had... 3000 dong or 10 pence to you and me!!

After a rest at the hotel and relaxing on the balcony watching the sun go down we headed for dinner at a street cafe and sampled the local menu - Cao Lau, White Rose and deep fried shrimp wontons, and of course another pint of local brew.

Needless to say...we slept well that night!