Hoi An

We got on a local bus for the 45 minute journey to Hoi An. We'd read everywhere that the price of the journey is 20,000d ($1) but that they will try extremely hard to rip you off. They'll make it hard to see how much the locals are paying and sometimes the locals will even join in the lie and pretend they paid more. In preparation, I made sure we both had the correct change. Alex, a guy from the Couchsurfing meet-up the night before had got the bus a couple of hours before and been told 60,000d and finally gave in at 25,000d but I was going to make sure I paid the right amount out of principle. The ticket guy came over and said it was 30,000d and we went around in circles for a good few minutes. He suggested we get off the bus and then walked away. Just before arriving in Hoi An, he came back over and took the 20,000d without saying a word but with a completely over-the-top frown on his face to try to make us feel bad about not being ripped off. How dare we?

Finding a hotel was a lot easier this time and we got a nice twin room for $5 each. We dumped our bags and went to meet up with Alex for some happy hour beers across the other side of the river. We had Cao Lau, a noodle dish only found in Hoi An, for dinner along with the other main speciality of White Rose (little dumplings resembling white roses); both were disappointing.