I woke up after 4am having slept in small bits and needing to turn over. The wifi was working so I booked a hostel in Hoi An and did a bit of research. It was still dark but it looked like we would arrive at 6am and my phone power was low so I looked for my charger but I couldn't find it in my bag or around my seat. The bus conductor hadn't seen it either so hopefully it would turn up when we stopped which meant I had to go to the bus station which was probably best anyway as there might not be buses to Hoi An if I got off somewhere else. I tried to sleep the last hour but with not much success ad we arrived in semi darkness with mild rain but I did find the charger as the person in front had found it and left it on their seat. I got my umbrella out and found the bus number 1 where drivers were sitting down at a nearby cafe. I tried to get breakfast but I still didn't know what all of the foods were so I went back to the bus place to use their wifi. I managed to save some websites offline but the bus was leaving soon so I got on with my luggage and paid 20k briefly ignoring the conductor trying to charge for my luggage. We arrived around 7 with the rain stopped and I walked to the hostel which pointed me to a room. The 2 bottom beds were taken but it looked lije the 2 girls using them would check out so I didn't select a bed and gad a shower with my own towel. I went to town soon after and had chicken rice for 30k at a local looking place. It was mainly rice with some chicken strips but he did give me a soup as well. On the walk to town I saw some restaurants advertising fresh beer for just 3,000 which looked tempting. I went past a small temple not on the map and came to the outskirts of the old town where I decided to go across to the other side and walk around the small island first which didn't have too much but I got some views across the river. The Japanese bridge which is a small covered wooden bridge looked ok but it was quite small. I wandered through town and tried to find the free museum I'd read about and meanwhile it started raining again. I wandered through most streets and the small temples also mostly asked for tickets as well but I did find a brochure in a travel agent which showed me where the free museum was and it was about the tribes of Vietnam visited by a French photographer. It was pretty good with his purpose of meeting the tribes, taking photos and finding a tribal outfit, he'd even visited a small tribe of 443 people which took 3 years to get a permit. I went to the Hoi An as one of the places on the way out of the town and it looked ok but also required a ticket. I went to the nearest ticket office to try to buy 1 ticket, but 1 ticket for them was the book of 5 for 120k. A man there said he would sell me 1 ticked which I thought would be good but he turned out to be a tour guide so wouldn't. I thought of finding someone who I could buy a ticket of and it was probably quite easy but it was close to 2pm so I decided to get lunch and after stopping in at a cultural centre place that was shut I ended up back at the hostel not finding somewhere I wanted to eat at. I tried to cross back at the next bridge but there was a ticket stand asking for 120k entrance to the old town and wiki travel had said I didn't need to pay this so I walked back to where I started and walked into town along a different road. There were lots of tourists about, some with stickers which I thought might be for entrance so I looked to pick one up so that I didn't get thrown out but there were none and lots of people didn't have the stickers as well. The town was not so impressive, lots of colonial type architecture with yellow walls and small uninspiring museums that people visit with tickets. The beds in my room were made up and empty so I claimed a bottom bunk and decided to walk to the beach less than 3km away. I wasn't really enjoying Hoi An because of all the tourists and the Vietnamese trying to get more money off them. Add post office? I stopped a few minutes from the hostel at a restaurant and tried the recommended dish of an egg pancake which came with lots of salad, rice wraps and I had a pork skewer as well. The food was good but he did order me 4 skewers when I only wanted 1 or 2 so it cost more than I expected so I didn't tip. The walk to the beach went past some fields which looked quite good and it was not raining but still overcast and not a nice day. I got to the beach which had wind and rain so I headed back and visited a temple which took me past lots of allotment type plots of farmland. Back at the hostel I booked a hostel for the next day in Danang and went out to see the town and have some dinner. I went to the place that had fresh beer for 3,000 and ordered a vegetarian curry along with 2 beers. The beers were good and so was the curry so I had one more beer and the bill was only 60k so I left 10k tip. I went into the town and it did look nice with the lanterns so I took a few pictures and wandered a bit before heading back. I read a bit at the hostel and I had one room mate who again took the bed above me. I went to sleep early soon after 10.
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