Hoi An and train to Hanoi

I spent the morning in Hoi An old town which is quite picturesque and visited the 16th Century Japanese covered bridge, guarded by stone monkeys at one end and dogs at the other, supposedly corresponding to the years they were started and finished, though those are Chinese symbols, so I'm not sure.

I took a look at the extravagant 'Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation' with some splendid twisty dragon fountains that sadly weren't switched on at the time.

I also popped into of the old traditional houses with a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese architecture. The flooding last month rising 2 metres and the worst since 1964. The chairs had signs on them which said 'please don't be seated'.

I also did some Christmas shopping - Hoi An is a real mecca for shoppers as you can get anything made to order within a day. Even I couldn't resist a pair of bespoke trainers for myself 12 dollars, an interesting mix of Merrell uppers and Dockers soles.

I had lunch overlooking the bustling market, where the preponderance of traditional conical hats provides a picture postcard setting.

I had some of the local cuisine, cao lau and 'white rose': the former a delicious thick noodle soup with croutons and the latter tasty shrimp dumplings.



Ideally I would have stayed longer and also visited the World Heritage town of Hue, but as my time is now limited, after lunch I was heading back to Danang (picture of the beach) to catch the 14 hour train ride to Hanoi. Scheduled departure time 14.15, arrival 04.30 the actual times only varying an hour from that so not too bad.

This time I was in first class 'soft sleep' rather than 'hard sleep'. I couldn't tell much of a difference, the on obvious ones being 4 beds per berth instead of 6, providing more headroom and less smelly. Also there were English notices, including the delightful 'please do not be putting any strange substances in the toilet'.

I was again sharing a berth with with a mother and baby, this one a little noisier than previously, but they got of at Hue, leaving the 4 berth to me and a friendly Vietnamese chap who taught me some words. I now know 1-10 in ten other languages. Ok, not that impressive, but quite useful in SE Asia to overhear what the locals are paying for stuff.