Hoi An

"19/05/2013"

I had a bit of a panic attack when I saw my bus ticket.  Because my seat had been booked so far in advance, my seat was right at the very front.
The idea of having a seat in full view of the road scared the life out of me.

Fortunately another English girl was happy to swap with me, so I got a different bunk for the journey.

The night buses have reclined chairs.  The space on the inside differs, including leg space.  Mine was an example of nowhere for my feet, and the design was rather floored as it left no room to put your hand luggage either.
I knew this would be an uncomfortable ride.

I should add that it didn't have a seat belt either (totally expected in SE Asia) but given the pace the bus was travelling at, the bends and the fact you were on a bunk bed, seemed slightly absurd.

It took me a long time to get any sort of comfort and I did regularly wake up along the road. (Mostly because of the frequent beeping of the horn), still I'd rather the driver used the horn than had a collision.  I'd prefer to stay alive than suffer with sleep deprivation.

It gradually got lighter and lighter, and then we rocked up in the middle of no-where, to be told we had reacher our destination.  I know my ticket said we were going all the way to Hoi An, but when I'd seen pictures of Hoi An, it looked pretty touristy and with plenty of amenities around.  This was the middle of nowhere.

We all disembarked and a couple of taxis pulled up.  No-one really knew what was going on, as everyone was half asleep.  The taxis quickly filled up, and I caught on, so decided to go for one of the motorbike taxis as I was desperate for the bathroom and was really tired.
All the drivers were dressed in a uniform so looked like they worked for the same company as the coach which had dropped as off.  I didn't even think to arrange a price before getting on the motorbike (stupid in hindsight).

Nevertheless, we reacher my destination very promptly and the nice guy the driver was wanted a very large sum of money.
My assertiveness (and tiredness) was not in anyway shape or form going to allow this.  I went on the prices I knew, and knowing I wasn't going to win at 10000, ended up paying nearer 30000 (still a rip off :()
I wasn't impressed.

Nor was I impressed by the lack of welcome I got at An Hoi hotel.  They seemed grumpy to have guests at 7.30am, but my room was ready, and I was also informed that I could have breakfast which was great news.

I slept for a couple of hours and felt tons better.

Hoi An is a historic town, with lots and lots of pagodas, traditional houses and museums.  All of the old town is in walking distance and so I was able to take my time visiting everything, stopping for a breather every so often (and returning to my hotel room which was 5mins away) if I needed to for a water refill.

For some strange reason despite having moved up North, the temperature seemed to have increased aswell, and I found it pretty unbearable (rather static and airless).
Fortunately there was a nice pool at An Hoi to cool down in in the afternoon, so I indulged in that before heading out to a nice Thai restaurant that evening.

Hoi An was pretty, but I just didn't warm to it quite as much as I thought I would, perhaps it had something to do with the arrival.