Ho Chi Minh City —> Da Nang —> Hoi An
We opted to do the 19hr train journey from HCMC to Hoi An…this was definitely an experience! Walked onto the train and saw the pretty shoddy chairs that we would be sat on for 19hrs!!! Holy Moly! At least they reclined quite far! 
The best bit about travelling by train in Vietnam was the food… A lovely Vietnamese lady every so often would walk through the carriage selling corn on the cob and boiled eggs served with a little pot of salt and pepper!! 
There is also a hot water tank at the end of the carriage so we bought a few Vietnamese pot noodles for lunch and supper!! The scenery in Vietnam is BEAUTIFUL and travelling by train we sped (slowly!) past rice paddies, small villages, large towns, karst mountains and rivers! We would definitely recommend the train as hardly any other tourists seem to do it and you get to view Vietnamese train life.
So, Hoi An does not have a train station and so we got the train to Da Nang and then a very expensive taxi to Hoi An (30min drive away)…oh well, found our hotel and it was gorgeous!
PHUC THAO VILLA – 10/10
Beaut room, hotel and pool area, rugby world cup on tv (happy Lloyce!), BEST breakfast, free bikes, and perfect location to the beach and town!
Hoi An is a beautiful town, all the buildings are painted a deep yellow, with shutters and verandas and all with wooden signs! 
Loads of creeping plants and trees line the streets and there are lanterns everywhere strung across roads, between trees and in the bushes! Looks incredible at night! There is also a beaut beach only 7min bike ride away…perfect holiday location!
It is a very touristy place now but still a must visit in Vietnam! We could easily have stayed here for months…
TAILORING
Hoi An is the home of tailoring in Vietnam…if you want a suit, dress, shorts, shoes, bag, literally anything, this is where you can get it made and the price is extremely reasonable!
Lloyds parents, my parents and my brother and his fiancée had kindly given us quite a bit of money for our birthdays and so we went a bit crazy getting tailor made stuff!!! It is important to look around for the right tailor, we settled on Ngu Thoi Five Seasons which is a little out of the main area of tailors and doesn’t look super fancy but the ladies were lovely and very patient (especially with me!)
Lloyd ordered a 3 piece suit and I ordered 2 dresses and a coat all tailor made and all for $280!! We chose all the fabrics, colours and linings, they took our measurements and told us to come back the next day (under 24hrs!) to try them all on! So speedy!
Lloyd’s suit was done in 1 day my clothes unfortunately took a few more alterations! At one point I had to scoot off with the owner, Ro to the seamstress lair to try to sort out my dress! Really interesting insight into the tailoring world in Hoi An…all made in tiny little rooms on old school singer type sewing machines, fabric and thread everywhere! Here, I had 3 non-English speaking seamstresses man handling my boobs to try to make them fit into the dress…they got right in there! Ha! Every so often they would laugh! Hmmmm…
FOOD
The food in Hoi An is AMAZING! The best food we’ve had in ages… which was so refreshing!
Top restaurants we ate in were:-
Nu Eatery – our favourite! Simple looking restaurant and its tiny but the food is simply incredible. Best thing there is definitely the Steamed Buns! INCREDIBLE!
The Streets – recommendation from our friend James. Delicious food and all prepared and served by trainees learning the restaurant trade through a scheme to help Vietnamese children better themselves! Great cause and yummy food.
Dingo’s Deli – delicious deli set up by an australian couple. Good for a tasty western meal when feeling a bit nostalgic! Love a deli!
Red Dragon – close to our hotel but quite far from the town, yummy vietnamese curry’s and fried rice and amazing slow cooked pork belly!
Gold Moon – cracking Gin&Tonic’s and its always happy hour so they are crazy cheap!
We also had AMAZING crispy wontons at the restaurant directly oposite the main Hoi An – An Hoi bridge! They are a must try!
RWC2015
We arrived in Hoi An on the Saturday the Rugby World Cup started…Big day!! So, a lot of our time in Hoi An was spent watching the rugby which was super fun! 
We found an amazing Irish Pub on the road to the beach called Paddys (obvs!) – incred food, a rugby menu which lloyd loved as had chips, cheese and gravy (Chips Poutine)! Met some fun Australians, Kiwi’s and Irish people here all keen on the rugby world cup so a really fun environment! AMAZING dog called Polly and a tiny kitten! Felt like a home away from home!
FUN WITH CHRIS THE GERMAN
We had met Chris in Laos and Cambodia before not to mention the eventful border crossing and seeing as he was determined to follow us around we met him again in Hoi An and had a great time beaching, Gin drinking, Kabu playing, rugby watching, cycling, visiting tiny terracotta villages, steamed bun eating at Nu Eatery (I got the recipe!!) and finally Lantern Festivaling.
Sadly, it was time to leave after the best 10 days in Hoi An… next stop Hue on the Top Gear bike tour of Vietnam!
#chonesadventures
Chen & Jones on Tour 