Hội An

What a charming town this is and a definite must see for anyone visiting Vietnam. On our second day here we hired two bikes from our very posh hotel (that we got for the bargain price of £3 a night). We cycled into the the old town which is full of French inspired, very quaint houses. The very oldest part of the town only allowed mopeds and bike cycles to enter. The very old Japanese bridge was nice too. The old town is situated on a river and very pretty. There are lots of people trying to sell things and trying different ways to part you from your money. We cycled over the quaint bridge, where Jody stopped to take some photos. She was approached by a sweet old lady selling bananas. Jody declined as we quite often did, but the little old lady asked that she take her photograph. Knowing that this usually comes at a price too, she again declined. The old lady was quite insistent and said “no charge” so Jody took her picture and showed it to the old lady on her camera. Then the old lady started asking for money for a banana. Again Jody said no thank you but the old lady tried now the familiar tack of “please buy a banana I am hungry”. Jody’s quick thinking, “well why don’t you eat one of your bananas then?” this did not go down too well, and the little old lady started to speak something in Vietnamese which I expect could not be translated. Jody did feel bad about what she said, but it was quite funny and we did have a giggle about it. We came across a restaurant called “Chips and Fish” that we liked the look of the menu, then Bryan noticed that they provide cookery classes. You choose five items from the menu and you get to cook them. costing 200,000 dong (£5.81) each, what a bargain. So we booked in for 5pm that evening. Our menu was to be: BulletRam rau - Vegetarian spring rolls BulletCo'm chiên trung - Fried rice with eggs BulletCao lẫu chay - Vegetable Cao lau Bullethoành thánh chay - Vegetable wonton BulletĐặu phụ kho tộ - Tofu in clay pot It was soon 5pm and we arrived back at Chips and Fish, aprons on and we were cooking, we loved it and it was all so easy too. Take a look at the video for what we cooked and how we got on. Later that evening we headed off on our biketo the beach where we were to meet up with Julia, Karen and Richard again, last time was in Ho Chi Minh City, this time we were on the beach at night. It was a lovely setting with rush mats placed on the sand and everyone gathered around a lantern drinking a beer from the sellers which trade there at night. We all told stories of our time in Vietnam and had a good time together. It sounds as if Julia has really shown her parents a side of Vietnam they will never forget. Southern Hotel (or Phuong Nan Hotel) Room rating: 9/10 - slight damp smell let it down Location: 7/10 - 15 min walk from the ‘old town’ Staff: 7/10 - Value for Money: 10/10 - £3 a night each including breakfast Other comments: we got a real bargain here. rooms normally start at $60 per night! Stay again? yes if we got good rates again Overall experience: 8/10 really liked it. Quieter than HCMC and much more picturesque