Hoi An

Overnight train was much better than expected. Toilets were clean and had loo paper, cabin was comfy. Despite my watch saying only 12 mins sleep, I dozed on and off. The rocking of the train was quite soothing but every time it stopped, which was fairly often, it woke us up.
There was a roll, jam and banana for breakfast plus a bottle of water. We'd also bought some snacks and there was a guy who came through every now and again with a cart. Our attendant bought us some instant coffees so Anna was happy. Dozed off some more then Anna woke me up for the views. Between Hue and Da Nang the scenery was stunning, the Hai Van Pass - along the coast, through jungly vegetation, looks like you are right over the edge at times. Wow!
Grab to Sol An Bang beach resort (£9); £140 for 3 nights. Unlike previous places they don't charge the 3% credit card fee, or it's already included in Booking cost. The driver turned into the road and it was completely flooded for about 20m. He bravely drove through it and we made it out the other side. It's in An Bang which is on the beach 5k from Hoi An old town.
Grab to Hoi An old town. Wandered around. Tons of lovely shops. Very busy. Lots of touts, more pressure to buy etc. Beautiful place.
They have had several episodes of severe flooding. We were debating whether to come but is mostly business as usual. There is still some flooding and a lot of sand/mud on a few of the streets. We talked to several store owners and they are struggling, one said 'our country is broken with all the rain' 😭.
Started tipping down with rain so we went into Poison cafe - amazing tofu dish, one of best veggie meals ever. Anna had beef pho. Prices here are more expensive but places are also far more fancy. Approx 1.5 to 2x as much.
Bought souvenirs / Xmas pressies.
Stopped for another coffee for Anna - tons of fancy coffee places here.
Went on motorised lantern boat full of bright lights. Meant to be 20 mins for 200k, then charged us 50k extra for lanterns and was max 10 mins. Quite scammy but still fun. We're happy to pay and support as many people as possible. Not sure our driver had passed his test, we crashed into several boats.
Morning glory - cross between spring onions and green beans cooked in garlic. Absolutely delicious. Asked for veggie spring rolls but they gave us meat, were very apologetic. Veggie spring rolls were lovely too.
Another boat ride, this time on the row boats which was the allotted 20 mins and very tranquil. These were more organised with a ticket for 170k and then lanterns 50k each.
The lanterns generally wash up on riverside so presumably get cleaned away. However I don't like the environmental impact so didn't do a second one. The first felt forced upon us.
Hoi An is magical at night, lanterns and lights everywhere. However many more touristy bars and belting out music than I expected. It's a lovely vibe but noisier than I thought. 1-2 days here and you'd be warn out from the constant touting. They respect a firm no but there's a lot of them! Especially when arranging a Grab many try to get you to cancel it and go with them. However Grab is guaranteed and also linked to credit card so don't need any cash.
QR codes are ubiquitous here too so we've been using our Moretta app lots.
Anna bought giant green suitcase - she is no longer a backpacker! 700k.Read more