Never, under any circumstances, eat raw meat. Ever. Last night whilst feeling either particularly foolhardy or brave (depending on your point of view) I went for a starter I have always fancied but never eaten - Carpaccio of Beef. For the uninitiated this is basically a plate full of raw steak with tomato and cucumber in an olive oil dressing. It was lovely - the meat was tenderer than a number of steaks I had previously eaten. I topped the meal off with a fillet steak (+pepper sauce) and tiramisu. All was fine until this morning when you've guessed it I spent 20 minutes on the loo and well, without being too graphic, nothing was particularly solid. The problem of course was that we were due on a train at 5.30am so I stuffed myself full of immodium and got the lift to the station.

Miraculously things have got a little better and I have now gone a full 8 hours since needing the loo. Noodles and rice for tea it is then. The train was about 10 mins late - not bad for an 8 hour journey...we have arrived in Hoi An, which is the most wonderful place - full of tailors, craft shops, and genuinely friendly people. We are staying at another excpetional guesthouse. So far (in about 2 hours) we have bought 2 hats (the conical ones that you see in all the films - God we're such tourists...although it has to be said all the locals (women not men) wear them), 4 picturtes, 1 bag and a suit (with 2 pairs of trousers). The sum total of all this plus 2 taxis to and from the station is about 55 USD - BARGAIN!!! That's about 35 quid. To be honest they don't try to fleece you here either thery just ask a reasonable price straight away which means no need to haggle - what a refreshing change...it was getting a bit wearing haggling with everyone only to stop and realise you were getting shirty over about 20p!

We have sampled the local delicacy which for once wasn't 'fish's head on a bed of worms' or other similar stuff they've clearly made up just to feed the tourists...it was Cao Lau which is basically thick noodles (wholewheat - nice and healthy!) with pork and crispy (that's more like it - for crispy read lardy) wantons - almost a bit like pork scratchings. That cost 5000 VND - about 20p and was utterly fantastic and best of all - filling...

Tomorrow we're off to see My Son which is a collection of temples from the Cham dynesty and has nothing to do with me fathering any illegitimate Vietnamese sprogs. In the afternoon we are picking up my suit and Jen's embroidered bag before probably hitting the town - not sure if we can stomach it tonight. The train North is booked - we're a bit gutted that we're moving on from here so soon (Sunday) but we couldn't risk not getting a ticket Hanoi and we need to spend a few days there so hence the quick movement (insert your own diarrhea joke here...)