Hoi An is fast becoming a popular tourist destination – the old town was designated a World Heritage Site some years ago, and the tourist industry here has since exploded. There are many excellent cafes and restaurants, and even a wine bar with decent (foreign) wine. Down by the beach, new 4* hotels are being constructed with alarming rapidity. Coupled with the fact that Hoi An is the premier destination in Vietnam for cheap tailored clothes, I am sure it won't be long before this becomes another Thailand for week-long getaways from Europe. For the moment, it's still a place in transition.

We spent a day visiting Cham Island, actually a series of islands about an hour off the coast of Hoi An. This was one of my favourite days of the Tour so far – it's a relatively pricey trip ($40 each!), which means there were next to no tourists in the bay, just local fishermen. We did a spot of snorkelling, a chance for me to see the underwater world for the first time. Visibility was pretty good, and we spotted shoals of brightly-coloured fish and a couple of angel fish, as well as blue starfish and lots of coral. One of the women saw a sea snake, which apparently carries enough venom in a single bite to poison 50 people. Very glad we all emerged unscathed. We then whiled away the afternoon on our very own desert island, lunching on the beach and napping in hammocks, avoiding the 41 degree heat.

We also decided to spend a morning doing a cookery course, where we learnt to make 4 traditional Vietnamese dishes, which we then get to eat. A delicious way to spend a morning. At the end of it we were presented with the recipes, so hopefully we can put our new-found skills to good practice when we return to the UK. Food was definitely a focus of our stay here – we sampled so much delicious seafood, including our first-ever king prawns which were caught that very day by the restaurant owner's dad.

There are not masses of sights here, and so we gladly use the rest of our time to relax and soak up some sunshine. We headed to Cua Dai beach for a late afternoon swim, passing lots of burnt-to-a-crisp westerners who spent the day in the sun (mad dogs and Englishmen...) Whilst we were there, the beach was transformed from a western sun-seeker's resort to a local paradise – apparently (and very sensibly) the Vietnamese avoid swimming during the day at all, heading to the beach either between 5 and 8am or 4 and 7pm. Even then, many of the kids are still made to swim fully clothed, just in case.

We also made time for a bit of shopping (at last!), although we had to ignore most of the tailored stuff – the world of work seems far too far away to contemplate ordering a suit or a shift dress right now. James was also further put off when he discovered that the Next catalogue provides the basis for most of the male tailoring! Instead, we opted for a bit of traveller wear, although avoided the baggy harem pants which appear to be this year's gap-year item of choice.