Suited and Booted!

It has been an emotionally draining couple of days full of excitement, nerves and boredom. Most of all though, a really interesting experience to be apart of. Watching how locals and the country deal with such a powerful force every year whilst maintaining their everyday lives. It had almost come to an end now as just all to be done was a mass clean up which the army seemed to have done in a day already. So far 50 Vietnamese had lost their lives and many more homes wiped through but everything here seems to get to normal at incredible pace.

A long bus wait over and we happily got on board to leave for Hoi An after being stuck indoors for way too long. There was even better news, not only were we still alive but I was now to share the back of the bus (which looked like a kingsize bed) with five rather attractive ladies, me squeezed comfortable in the middle with the hottest (Laura) to my side- this would be a fun journey. It certainly made up for the male dominated trips in China!

A very quick ride a few hours later and we arrived to a gorgeous hot day minus water on the roads in Hoi An. There was alot of trash everywhere msinly from trees and bushes but again things were being swept up very efficiently.

The hotel was right at the bus stop so after checking in we pretty much headed straight out away to see what was on offer. Here it's all about getting clothes tailor made, whether it is having a full suit designed from scratch or just getting a cheap simple summer dress, you can ask for anything and they will do it. Flick through catalogues or bring your own and they will copy the design and make it within 24 to 48 hours at a quarter of the price!

Every one-in-two shops do this and staff are eager to invite you in to try anything your eyes should touch upon for more than a second. With so much choice it really was hard knowing where to start or which of the hundreds of shop makers to go with. You could easily have a whole wardrobes worth made and get it all sent home like many visiting here do.

Many shops later we arrived at the Old Town centre and the flooding appeared again. The whole street vanished as the main river which flows through it had risen dramatically. The electricity has been cut off now for three days.

Lunch followed and then another dose of clothes shopping. The men's suits were ridiculous value for money so I went in to get a smart swanky one made for a third of the price and the next day I would get to try it on already!

Laura has loved tons from huge cheap winter coats to sexy evening dresses but this would still costquite alot to send back so we couldn't get too carried away and left to think about what we'd really like.

As night fell, the sound of beating drums and clanking bells started to build. Then appeared a clourful and highly lively dancing unicorn which looked more like a dragon (controlled by two boys, one on the other ones shoulders). A few minutes later and we reached a crossroads where a massive amount of traffic had come to a stand-still. There, surrounded by a large crowd danced a further three unicorns performing tricks on high woodenpoles in the air. We had come to Hoi An just on the right day as it was the Mid Autumn Festival which only happens once a year. This whole three day fest was specially for the children, mainly boys as it seems girls are only allowed to watch! We even had our own performance of the noisy rhythmic kids alongside a masked clan while we sat eating in a restaurant. They play for you and then you are supposed to place money on a giant feather to be placed and gobbled by the unicorn.

Getting back to the hotel we booked to go to My Son, Vietnams most important ruin and attempted sleep in a rather dank smelly room.

Waking up and getting ready for being at the reception desk for 7.30am was quite a task today and quickly munching our breakfast before the bus came we were disapointed to here it had been cancelled due to the on going bad weather.

With parents eager to see the storm pictures and new blogs we strolled down to find an internet cafe that actually had electricity. This proved harder than we thought and more than four hours later we hadn't sat down in one yet and had spent more time popping back into countless clothes shops again. Laura and I both shelling out less than 50 pounds altogether for two trendy looking winter coats that would have cost easily over 150 each back home.

Three hours were then spent in a sticky internet room again full of young kids playing first person shooters all day long.

The second night of the festival started to kick off again and tonights perfomances had almost tripled the amount of onlookers. A long time later after squeezing past what seemed the entire population of Hoi An we made it to the shop where my suit was ready to try on. The cut couldn't have been more perfect and well made. I had certainly got more than my moneys worth and it would probably be the only moment on this world journey that I'd actually feel smart for five minutes. Sleep then followed!

The next day started as an exact repeat of the previous, but this time the bus to My Son actually came. When we arrived it seemed we were not the only ones who had been waiting to see it as the place was heaving tourists. A highly animated guide then told us of the plan for the next few hours and warned not to tread away from the path as landmines are still discovered here- errr great!



A lengthy toilet queue later and we rejoined with the guide who had named our group "Michael Jackson" for some unknown reason. He handed out ticket passes for the group and released there were two people too many and questioned who was not meant to be here. A minute later of confused heads turning and looking at each other we noticed we didn't actually recognise any here from our journey down. Oooooh dear, yes it was us and somehow within seconds of stepping out of the bus we'd landed ourselves in completely the wrong group and ours had been stood waiting at the main entrance- woooops.



It was a shame also because our actual tour guide hardly muttered a single sentence and failed to tell us everything we needed to know. Anyway we walked on ahead to the main ruin complex full of Hindu Temple-Towers made from brick though strangely built without mortar, a controversial technique used by the Champa people. It was hard to fully appreciate the beauty of it all here when every few seconds you would find yourself having to move out of the way from other peoples constant photo snapping. The route around the site was also confusing with different paths to choose from, many of them overgrown and knowing not to go off track it was a bit frustrating. Time was rushing past and we had to be back at the bus stop soon, not wanting to be the late ones again added to the pressure of not going the wrong way. When our time was up we trekked back to meeting our group, thinking we'd missed out seeing half of the grounds, but when we saw a map with pictures up on a flip chart it seemed we'd managed to do the lot. We clambered back onto a very hot bus and headed home again. I'm not sure if it was my grumpy head that I had on today being exhausted and not in the mood for the horribly muggy weather or the fact there were too many tourists everywhere but I came away from the Unesco grounds quite disapointed. As the afternoon continued I think it was my mood and it was my first day out here I think I could have been happily locked away in my cold dark hobbit hole of a music room at home.

The day still brought some good strolls walking around the parts of Hoi An we previously could not have seen due to being flooded. With the river back where it should be we got to see the extent of damage and rubbish left by the storm and a big clear up was taking place by the harbour.

Evening followed with the third instalment of street festival madness and at this point I had definately had enough of the loud cymbol clanks as we tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow we would move on though and all in all it's been a brilliant stay.