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We arrived by bus in Hoi An after a trip along beaches and thru mountains and thru Danang aroound 19.00. We went to Vinh Huy Hotel, a nice hotel, with personal service. There english was good, and we had HBO again! No airco this time, but a fan did the job. We had a expensive dinner in Tam Tam restaurant, in an old tea trading house, run by an european expat. After a small walk we went back to the hotel.

Hoi An is a picturesque riverside town. It was the most enchanting place in Vietnam, besides Sapa. In the 17th and 18th century Hoi An, then known as Faifo, was an important port for Dutch, Portugese Chinese and Japanese trading vessels. Hoi An retains a sense of history that is really nice. A number of streets are off-limits for cars, and old buildings are very well restored and maintained. it is a small town(76.000), and can be easilly explored by foot or bike. It is known for its silk tailors and you can get a nice hand made wardrobe for cheap prices! Hoi An is shopping heaven!

The second day we first went to the beach. We rented bikes for 5000 dong (25 eurocents!), and enjoyed the ride to the beach. Nice to relax for some time after the fast travel we did. A little swim, a nice cocktail and lunch on the beach. Springroles off course! Arround 16.00 we went back to the hotel for a shower, and went of to town.

There a a lot of tailors in town, and a lot of pottery salesmen. My sister had hereself measured a new set, and my brother shopped for a new ceramic dinning set. We had dinner a nice cheap restaurant, Fai Foo, that served us all the local specialities: ‘Cau Lau’: flat thick noodles, with croutons, pork slices mint leaves, lemon leaves, crispy rice paper and bean sprouts. Then ‘White Rose’: steamed shrimp in rice paper, ‘Won Ton’: crispy, tasty crackers with meat inside and last grilled minced shrimp on a sugar cane stick, all realy recommened!

The next day i went shopping for some souvenirs. I found a shop that made the APE logo on two hats for me. Realy nice, and for 150.000 dong. I had my hair cut in a small town i cycled thru, but it was very bad done! Funny dough, because half the village came to see it! After i had it redone with a tondeuse in a cafe. It took some explaining because they couldnt belive i wanted it that short! Carolien went shopping to and had herself made another set of clothes! Mark and Rob spent the day on the beach, and Carloien and me joined them later that day. We had dinner in Fai Foo again, and there were the two Canadians we met in Sapa again! We had a drink in a nicely decorated lounge bar, and went back to the hotel. A nice relaxed day!

The last day in Hoi An we went to pick up the clothes Carolien had ordered, and Mark bought a set of 10 ceramic bowls & plate, spoons, chopsticks & holders, and big plates for 4 euro per set!. A big box, but we could leave it at the airport deposit in Ho Chi Minh. Arround 1400 a taxi brought us to the Danang airport, from where we flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Hoi An was definetly one of the nicest places in Vietnam, and i really want to go back ther sometime to spent a week or so! The best place to buy souvenirs for sure.