The town of Hoi An was very picturesque with lots of coffee shops and small narrow streets that cars and large motorbikes are banned from, so it's almost quiet!. It specialisies in rapid tailoring and most of the people we met got fantastic suits made for $35 and sent them home. Dave and I never got our act togther and left empty handed!!
Nha Trang & Dalat
After we'd abandoned the bikes, we took a few days rest at a delightful resort town of Nha Trang. Lounging around on the beach & swimming in the warm South China Sea was just what was required to rest our delicate parts! However, it was hotting up and so to escape the intense heat of the daytime we travelled to Dalat 4500ft up in the mountains and spent a few cooler days there. But still we couldn't escape the noise - the dustcart woke us up at 5.10am each morning blaring out "No place like home" like the early morning ice cream van!
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
As we got further south the heat and the noise were beginning to take their toll and on reaching HCMC the number of beggars and amputees doubled, so it was difficult to go or sit anywhere without being hassled for money. Our friends Sunny and Jim from Preston, kept our spirits up, as they were just at the beginning of their round the world trip and were tad more enthusiastic than us, although we think the malaria tablets they were taking had something to do with this!!! (only joking S & J!). We decided to get back on the bikes to cycle through the Mekong Delta towards Cambodia but, despite what the guide book said, of the 5 days, only one was cycle friendly. The rest was much like Highway 1, very busy and under construction. Again the people we met in the Delta made up for the poor cycling and we took a boat trip, up the river and canals to visit the local floating market.
Summary
In summary Vietnam was one of the most different, interesting and culturally unspoilt countries we had visited and would recommend it to anyone, perhaps not to cycle though, unless you had a van to take you over the rough bits! The friendly people, scenery, history, climate and cheap beer definately made it one of our favourite countries.