Hoi An

We all slept in a bit this morning, I guess we needed to sleep off the stench of yesterday’s train ride. One more item from yesterday. An announcement was made that our train would be late arriving to pick us up in Hue, first in Vietnamese, then English. No idea what was said in Vietnamese but the English announcement was “blah blah blah the train will be late blah blah blah we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and hope to receive your sympathies”. Hmmm, those would be some misdirected sympathies.

Our hotel’s breakfast was decent. The highlight of our breakfast is usually the fresh fruit and fruit juice - mango, pineapple, dragon fruit, passion fruit, Vietnamese orange, and that devil fruit, watermelon (I’ll take the word of the others on that one). All the fruit is perfectly ripe and full of flavour - even the bananas taste different (better) here.

We set out after breakfast to explore Hoi An. Today is the first day since arriving in Vietnam with blue sky and sunshine. Not necessarily a good thing though as we had to do the shade seeking strut - walk quickly through the sun into some shade, pause for a bit, repeat. The last place we did this was in Madrid, where it was also stinking hot. Nat gave up after about an hour or so and returned to our hotel while the boys and I soldiered on. We explored for a while longer before having a break at a local coffee roastery, sitting beside a huge fan while enjoying some iced beverages.

We’ve noticed a lot more tourists in Hoi An than the other parts of Vietnam we’ve visited. Australians, Europeans, and lots of Chinese. The Chinese tour groups are pretty funny to watch. They all wear the same shirts or hats supplied by the tour company, all of the woman walk with open umbrellas, all of the men have huge DSLR cameras around their necks, and they dutifully follow their guide who carries a long pole with a stuffed animal mounted to the top. They are also the only ones seemingly oblivious to the honking of scooters as they block the roadways to take pictures.

After our drink break we returned to our hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the rooftop pool. The pool is situated mere steps from our room and as we were the only ones there the entire time, it was like having our own private area to enjoy.

Dinner was Greek and was good, with slightly suffocating service due to an over abundance of eager staff. We then joined the hordes to walk about the old town and view all the lanterns lit up after dark.

World Cup Football dribble:
My head is still spinning over Germany’s loss yesterday. What the hell was that? This was not the plan. It was probably those green uni’s they were wearing. Not sure who to cheer for now. Certainly not Brazil and that serial flopper Neymar. England? Never those wankers. Love Messi so maybe if Argentina gets through, but can I cheer for the same team as that idiot Maradona? Or perhaps the ever hungry Suarez and Uruguay?Read more