Hoi An

After a 30min taxi ride from Da Nang airport to Hoi An we arrived at our hotel called "The Earth Villa" which initially was a little disappointing. Our room was not ready and we had to sit and wait. Unfortunately I had developed a cold and was a tad grumpy. We were invited to relax around the pool but quite frankly all I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. Rather than sitting and waiting for 4 hours we decided to go for a walk and that was when we realised that our beach hotel was in fact 20 mins walk from the beach in one direction and the old town of Hoi An at least 30 mins in the opposite direction!!!!! So Hoi An town won out and we set out to find some lunch. Hoi An is where you can get clothes and shoes made to fit in a day or so but as our bags are full this was not an option for us. What was an option for me though was a pair of cool, linen trousers for 100 VND - bargain - and a fantastic Indian, freshly cooked meal for us both. Even though the heat was unrelenting and we were sweating to match, Indian spicy food was what we both were hankering for. We were finding Vietnamese a little bland. We were not to be disappointed as the meal was fantastic and the best Indian food we had both eaten for a long time. Trudging back to our hotel we settled into our room - which was actually very big, roomy and comfortable - and had a well deserved swim in the warm pool. This, unfortunately, was where our, or my actually luck changed. Not sure what caused it but I developed extreme back pain that night in a restaurant and was seen walking along the street with a bottle of iced water under my shoulder blade. This is my "achilles heel" and is usually brought on by stress and tension!!!!!!! These two things have been absent in my life for a while now so who knows. Anyway Gary is the most able masseur and a combination of massage and tablets normally do the trick. 2 days later I emerged painfree during which time Gary, bless him again, had made all of the arrangements, with the assistance of the lovely receptionist/tour agent at the hotel, for the rest of our time in Vietnam. Train trips, hotels, next ports of call all planned and worked out through to Hanoi - excellent. We managed to make one more trip into town, mainly because we both wanted to have another Indian meal but also because we wanted to buy some hammocks for Molly. WIth Gary bargaining hard and having a lot of fun with the local market people he bought two hammocks really cheaply. I am sure they will never forget him! Walking home we stopped for our Indian meal and ordered a meal each to share and a beer not to share. Suddenly I became very unwell again - nausea, sweating, pale etc which caused a bit of concern and hastily brought forth some "ginger tea to settle the stomach" (which we paid for of course, the Vietnamese never miss a beat). Gary quickly ate his food and mine was put in a doggy bag and off we set to walk home again. Eventually I was fine and cannot explain what happened but it did curtail what we were able to do in Hoi An. So with our next stop booked in Quang Binh at 68 Hotel, the following morning we set off on our next adventure and by a completely new mode of travel - the Vietnamese train!!!!