Hoi An Helper

The sleeper bus deserves a post all to itself, and in fact is covered in great detail at manversusworld.com.

Suffice it to say, we were dead tired after arriving in Hoi An and after being screwed round with by numerous taxi drivers with no meters and their personal views on our hotel suggestions and trying to find our way into 'town' on foot, we were thankful to somewhat bravely follow a girl who stopped us from the back of a motorbike.  

"Are you looking for hotel?"
 "Yes"
 "Come with me, not far, rooms only 15 dollars and pool".  

Despite the grey skies not agreeing with the hotel pool, we settled in, showered and headed off to find some breakfast.

Some five minutes down the road toward the old town, who should we stumble upon again, but yes, the same girl. 
"You looking for some breakfast"
 "Yes" 
"Follow me"   Again? 

She led us to a small stand complete with low plastic seats and ordered us two bowls of noodles.  A few seconds later two steaming dishes of the local specialty, Lao cai, noodles with pork and lettuce arrived and we gobbled them down greedily, delighting in their tastiness and the ability of this local savior to help us when we most needed it.

We owed it to this girl, who magically reappeared after our breakfast, to visit her clothes shop - Hoi An is famous for tailoring shops of which there are many.  Politely confirming that we were travellers with no room in our bags or desire for more weight, we sat through a little speech but left without having anything made to order!  A result.

Despite the mist and cool temperatures, it was hard not to love Hoi An.  The river is surrounded with cosy cafes and restaurants, offering the cheapest beer we have come across so far on this trip, 12p or 23c in NZ, with picturesque views of boats crossing the river and tourists and locals walking and biking by in ponchos.

Our faithful Lonely Planet recommended a bar over the river we thought we would check out and after tearing down a lifeless street, we made it to the Sleepy Gecko. Quiet mid afternoon, this was a great chill out bar that overlooked the river and was almost deserted save for a tiny Vietnamese girl with impeccable English that befriended Si.  After introducing herself as Rachael, she exclaimed she was off to get a puppy dog and returned a few minutes later with the tiniest, cutest and softest puppy imaginable.  It couldn't even walk yet!

At night time the pretty river lights, best viewed from the second floor of a river view restaurant were sensational, and window shopping became a breeze with only pedestrians and cycles allowed through the old town.  Unfortunately the rain made our stay a little less enjoyable than it should have  been but we loved Hoi An none the less!  On to Hue.


Pics of Hoi An