We arrived in Nha Trang at 6:30am after a long bus ride. Overnight buses are the most time efficient way to travel Vietnam, but certainly not the most comfortable. The seats on the bus do not always recline, the bus stops twice during the night and the air conditioning is either blasting or non existent. We checked into the same hotel as Jaime and Kam who were the 2 girls we had first met in Chiang Mai. We wandered around town a bit and got a chance to see the beach. The city felt like Florida with a long line of stores and hotels facing an equally long pebble beach. Jen wasn't feeling great (due to the Malaria pills) so we decided to take it easy and spend the day at a private pool by the water reading and soaking up the sun. That night we went out for an Italian dinner with Jaime and Kam and shared some of our adventures since we had last seen each other. The next day Jen was still not feeling well, so she stayed in the room and took it easy, while Dan did e-mail. The weather was cloudy and rainy all day, so we really didn't miss much. Besides, there was not that much to see or do in Nha Trang. We left that night on an overnight bus to Hoi An.

Hoi An is a great city, with a small town feel, very friendly people and a pleasant beach. However, what has put Hoi An on the map more than anything else is its reputation for producing great custom made clothing. In a city of 5000 people, there are over 200 tailors - a dream come true for Jen. We got off the bus and decided to upgrade our usual standards in order to give Jen a chance to recover from the Malaria pills. We checked into a really nice hotel with a Chinese motif and a pool in the centre.

That afternoon we walked around the city and were stopped by many locals asking us if we would like to have some clothes made. We eventually followed this one woman to a big building jammed with individual tailor stalls. We had intended to look around at a number of stores, but it started to rain heavily outside so we figured it was a sign that we should buy from these ladies. We picked out some clothing patterns from European fashion magazines and had ourselves measured. The tailors took very few notes, which made us nervous about what they would create. After 2 hours at their stall and countless shirts and suits later, we were sent on our way and told to return in 24 hours. We ended the day with a tour of the city and a mediocre dinner of Vietnamese food.

The next day Jaime dropped by the hotel and we all went out for lunch. After lunch we picked up Kam (who had slept in a bit) and all 4 of us headed down to see what kind of creations we had purchased. It turned out that the tailors had done a great job and both of us were happy with our purchases. Most of the alternations that were needed were done right on the spot. We were so happy with the goods that we ended up buying a few more things. That afternoon we walked around the city some more with Jaime and Kam and ended up having dinner at a nice restaurant while overlooking the river. While the food was ok, we had to continually duck our heads while we ate in order to avoid the bats that kept flying back and forth above us.

The next morning we decided to take it easy and enjoy some time by the hotel pool. In the afternoon we went back to the tailors for another fitting (and to buy a few more things). We then decided to check out the beach, which was 5km away from the town. We rented a motorcycle and drove out to the beach. When we arrived it was drizzling, so we simply walked for a bit and returned to our bikes. The beach was nicer than the one in Nha Trang and significantly less commercial. We started to head back to town and the sky opened up and started to downpour. Dan struggled to see anything while he drove, but since there was no real place to stop, we had no choice but to push on. We made it back to the city in one piece and went back to the tailors to pick up all of our clothes. The tailors had taken a real liking to us and even made Jen a souvenir shirt as a going away present. We ended the night at an Italian restaurant with Jaime and Kam. We had really liked Hoi An but we had to keep on moving north in order to see everything within our timeframe. Our next stop was the city of Hue.