Day 15 - 16 Hanoi to Hoi An

Today we became proper back packers!

We left the boat this morning and made the return journey to Hanoi by Minibus. We were dropped off at the train station at four O'clock, with plenty of time spare before our seven O'clock overnight train to Denang.

(School of Mum and Dad Before we left the boat)

The train station was large, smelly, and full of pretty undesirable looking characters, so we lay base firstly at a street cafe, and secondly at a burger joint which had free wi-fi. This gave us the chance to catch up on the world, having been cut off in Ha Long. We found out that we have a new family member, as my sister gave birth to Hugo Xavier yesterday, awesome news and massive congratulations from us all, thinking of you guys!

Secondly that I missed what sounds like the best Ryder Cup ever,.. so gutted!!.. no sky+ or highlights, or a newspaper, or even a good enough internet connection to read up on it. Hay ho!

Anyway the station slowly started to fill with people who looked like hardened backpackers, so we knew we were in the right place. By six O'clock, the place was buzzing with westerners all freely talking to each other about the upcoming over night journey. An elderly lady from New Zealand stopped and chatted to us for half an hour about her travels, and promised to stop by and talk more once we had departed (Yikes!), some young europeans lads were buying 2 dozen beers from the station cafe and started quizzing me about the exact departure time, platform, restaurant bar and so on (did I somehow look more informed than them, or was it just the flip flops!)

We climbed aboard our carriage and threw our bags down in compartment 20, our home for the next sixteen hours. The kids got very excited about the odd prospect of spending the night on the train, ignoring the reality of a very basic cabin, with little other than 4 bunks 4 pillows and 4 duvets, but the atmosphere was very buzzy as the majority of people were there to experience this long slow train to Saigon.The screams from a group of girls two cabins down, who discovered a cockroach in their cabin, added to the atmosphere. We pulled out of Hanoi and tracked the main street out of the city, giving us one last chance to experience the chaos, but this time from the comfort of our bed, the city turned to darkness as we disappeared into the country, and we slowly fell asleep to the rattle of a very old train line and an equally dated coach.

The kids got a good sleep, but Steph and I certainly suffered from the noise, jostling, and generally unpleasant sleeping conditions, but we woke up to find ourselves travelling between the rugged coastline and mountains of North Vietnam, which was a moderate reward!

By 10:30 we had arrived at our destination and we were met by our driver who drove us to Hoi An. On the way we saw further evidence of the future state of Vietnam, as the beach side properties start making way for mega resorts, in only a couple of years this part will certainly be unrecognisable.

Our bungalow in Hoi An is simple again, but the staff extremely pleasant, they came good for Felix's Birthday bringing out a big cake with a firework, and singing happy birthday before giving him a local T shirt as a present, He was very happy.

Hoi An is a very pleasant coastal port that seems to centre around the natives abilities to tailor you any dress from any catalogue in under a couple of hours, all great stuff, but you have to be in the mood for a haggle, and the begging and pleading should you not go ahead with a sale.. so not for us this time. We have spent the last couple of hours by the pool, and we will be giving Felix the choice for tonights entertainment.