Lady on the beach

We bought some peanuts from this friendly lady on the beach just outside Hoi An in Vietnam today.

Many a backdated blip to complete on our return, just not enough time just now.

We arrived in Hoi An about three days ago after a 28 hour endurance bus test from Vientiane in Laos. It turned out we were on a cargo and passenger bus stowed out with crates of the infamously smelly durian fruit in the main part of the bus! We then stopped in the middle of the night somewhere in the middle of nowhere near the Laos/Vietnam border to load about 3 tonnes of Red Bull into the main part of the bus, let's just say it was an experience! Laden with Durian and Red Bull, our average speed was about 30mph and that's when we weren't stopping for wee breaks, lunch breaks, elevensies, twelvsies, twelve tensies etc etc...

Anyway, first impressions of Vietnam is that it is fabulous - I tend to judge most places by eating my way around them and Hoi An is ideal for that. Just enjoyed a 5 course extravaganza at Mr Kim's restaurant - you are asked, "Meat, Fish or Vegtetable" on arrival and then wait to see what the chef conjures up, it was a treat! Mr Kim was also quite a character, apparently he used to taste the food for a South Vietnamese General during the war and afterwards decided to open his own restaurant.

The plan is to head north from here tomorrow until we reach Halong Bay then it's on to Hanoi and hopefully north from there.