Hue to Hoi An

My last night in Hoi An had some interesting moments. Leaving my hotel, I set of for my favourite restaurant (the Banana Mango), only to be waylaid by a silk shop. Pauline - you are now the proud owner of a couple of blouses - hope you like them! Perhaps Fi can bring them home for a late Christmas present if she has room.

Robert, if you get to Hue you'll have to try the Banana Mango. It does the best and cheapest food I've tasted so far. The place is packed - just don't be put off by the mould spreading up the walls. I doubt if the kitchen would even register on the alphabet of our hygiene scale, but looking by the number of elderly Vietnamese there I don't think there are too many serious food bugs. And sit by the door - the cigarette smoke is a bit overpowering inside.

The walk back to my hotel was interesting. I'd been propositioned by moto riders before, but not quite like this.

Hey, moto?
No thanks
Then girl, you want girl?
No thanks
Beautiful girl, you want? Very beautiful. I take you
No thanks. I don't want a girl (This guy is starting to piss me off - I walk faster)
Yes, beautiful girl. You go dancing, then boom boom!

I smile to myself at his persistence and choice of words, but explain to him in no uncertain terms that I don't want his girl, and stride off. I think he finally gets the message.

After a standard hotel western breakfast (bread roll, jam, banana & coffee) I board my bus to Hoi An. A long slow trip, but a few interesting sights. We stop at a beach resort for a loo stop - this is the last place I'd want to take a holiday. The place is new with interesting architecture, but poorly maintained and looks shabby already. And of course the beach is no great shakes by Kiwi standards, and is all churned up by the storm in the South China Sea that still extends rain bands across flooded central Vietnam.

A 6km tunnel sees us through the mountainous approach to Da Nang - once known as the location of a huge US air base and now a large and prosperous looking city. We don't stop, but continue south past the coast where the American GIs took their R&R during the war - China Beach (not its Vietnamese name). There's nothing to remind anyone of what took place here 40 years ago, although apparently one enterprising hotel owner has named his hotel China Beach to cash in on the American tourists.

I listen to my headphones.

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back

The Stones' anthem of death, despair and depression is a fitting allegory to the history of this place, not just for the GIs who lived and died here, but also for those who returned home tormented by the horrors they'd seen, compounded by condemnation from the people who sent them. A fruitless war if ever there was one, yet American politicians are slow learners. It's happening all over again in Iraq.

But enough of history. I arrive in Hoi An to yet more wet weather. The bus kindly stops at a hotel that has a nice room for $10/night. I wonder whether I should wander down the road for a cheaper one, but the rain and flooded streets suggest I am better off where I am. I'm in for two nights.

First step is to book my forward travel. I decide to skip Nha Trang (a beach resort with good snorkeling etc), but in this weather and turbid water it's pointless going out. I'll save my beach experience for later in the trip, and head back to HCM and spend some time on the delta. The train costs $40, takes 12 hours, and gets me in to HCM at 4.30am. Flying costs $56 and takes an hour. A no-brainer - I've seen plenty of countryside now, and I nod in the direction of a carbon credit to offset my excessive consumption.

But what to do in Hoi An for a day? It only takes half a day to see the sights. Then I spot it in the tour guide - a Cooking Course! So for half a day I'll be scouring the markets buying ingredients and whipping up some Vietnamese culinary masterpieces. Hope I get to do my favourite meat with chili, ginger and lemon grass recipe.

I have a wander around the old town - very similar to lots of other markets, but in Hoi An there's a much greater emphasis on clothing. I see another silk top for Pauline and can't help myself - yes - that design in that fabric with that embroidery. Ready at 10.30am tomorrow? Excellent.

But now it's time for a swim - the hotel has a private pool. And I see the computer's got a USB port too - stay tuned for a few more photos.