Sorry for the double postings but the wifi was being super difficult last night and we were both exhausted so we passed out early. 

A note about Da Nang before I continue with today. Da Nang was the first city we went to where basically no one spoke English. Like I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only white people there. (Obviously we weren't but it felt like it.) 

Trying to find somewhere to eat was a nightmare because you'd walk up to a restaurant and the menu would all be in Vietnamese. There weren't even any pictures to point at.  We ended up eating at KFC that night purely on the basis that we met another Caucasian couple and tagged along with them. 

But anyway this is the post for the 14th.

Yesterday was another travel day, but on a smaller scale. We were just taking a car from Da Nang to Hoi An. Which realistically is only like a 30 min drive. However, our hotel in Hoi An told us for an extra 3$ we could take a stop over in a place called The Marble Mountains. It's a network of five different small hills / mountains that were hollowed out due to their rich supply of marble, jade, amethyst and other precious stones.  Buddhist monks also built several small but beautiful pagodas at incremental heights along the hillside.  

So, under the assurance from our hotel in Hoi An that our bags would be totally and utterly safe with their driver we stopped over and started exploring the area.  There is an elevator that you can take but it costs 4000 dong (25 cents) and what's the point of skipping a beautiful hike. That said by the time Jack and I summited the first hill we were both absolutely drenched in sweat. It was a super sunny, cloudless day and a nice easy temperature of 39 degrees.  We drank plenty of water but by the time we got back to our driver I was really feeling the sun. 

Continuing onto Hoi An we reached our hotel, dropped our bags and had a small siesta.  (It was only 2pm so after our not-so-small hike I thought we deserved it.)  Later, when Jack tried to wake me up I found the sun had gotten to me a bit more than I had thought because I had a massive headache. 

Popping Tylenol, we left our room around five to explore Hoi An. 

What I first noticed about this city is that everyone, and I mean almost absolutely all the stores are tailors.  Everyone wants to sell you custom made clothing.  Hoi An was a major trading post for several centuries and so because of that its been officially marked as an International World Heritage Site.  We quickly found that, possibly due to the amount of tourism most people in town spoke a decent amount of English.

But being a touristy place has its ups and downs because people are constantly approaching you on the street asking you to buy their goods.  I see it as a plus because for the most part everyone is super friendly and helpful and the street food is delicious.    

We didn't really do much in the evening, just walked around the old quarter and haggled for food. If you ever come here try a Mango cake (surprisingly no Mangoes.)  Its a ball of sticky rice filled with peanut butter and sugar. Sounds super weird but tastes really good.  

Had an early night tonight cause of the hike and the heatstroke.  

G-