The Adventures of Doug and Bec: Hoi An

Bec and I arrived in Hoi An after a fairly average 17 hour train ride from Saigon. We missed out on a sleeper ticket on the train and ended up in the 'soft seat' class.... not real soft and fairly average. Food was scary... couldn't see any refrigeration for the meat in the kitchen area so we didn't eat on the train.

We met a nice Aussie couple on the train, Mel and Darren who also missed out on a sleeper seat. During the train ride we also got an email from our accommodation saying there was a problem with the rooms so we had no where to stay in Hoi An. Luckily Mel and Darren had a car booked from the train station (about an hour drive) and we booked a room at their accommodation which we got for $25 inc breakfast (they booked online and paid $38, so it pays to book locally). We met up with Mel and Darren for dinner and some drinks in town that night and walked over the Japanese Friendship Bridge which was beautiful at night. Local Beers were 4,000 dong per glass (ie; 20 cent) so it was a nice night. The town is full of Japanese lanterns and looks a totally different place from day to night.

On our first full day in Hoi An we slept in a bit and then had some lunch and browsed some clothing tailors (the big industry in the town) and hires bikes to ride to the beach. It was an overcast day but you could tell how nice the beach would be on a great day. We also found a little tourist booking company where we booked $5 bus tour of My Son for the following day and a $5 bus ride to Hue which left half an hour after the tour was due to end (5 hour bus ride).

I would recommend Hoi An and My Son to everyone coming to Vietnam. Truly one of the most beautiful towns i have ever seen. It was occupied by the French and the Japanese or some time and you can tell by the little canals, the cafes and the bread shops. I would however not recommend the train unless you can get a sleeper..