To get from Hoi An to Nha Trang we took an overnight sleeper bus, leaving at 1830 to arrive by the beach in Nha Trang 12 hours later. We subsequently learned that this particular sleeper bus route is known amongst travellers as 'The Hell Bus'.

The layout of a sleeper bus is similar to how I imagine a submarine sleeping quarters would be, if that submarine was designed and manned by dwarf contortionists. Each person is allocated a reclining chair/bed, with a leg compartment neatly tucked under the chair of the person in front. There are around 7 chair/beds in each row, three rows to a level, and two levels on the bus – about 40 people per bus in total. Unfortunately, the leg compartments are designed to be a snug fit for the average Vietnamese person - for anyone taller than about 5'5'' they're pretty much useless. I spent most of the night exploring a series of equally uncomfortable configurations of feet, knees and legs before landing on a complicated half-foetal position that enabled me to wedge my body into the seat and prevent my falling out whenever the bus went round a corner.

The tight fit would have been fine for an hour or two, had we been on a straight-run down a motorway. But motorways don't really exist in Vietnam. And our route took us down the coast on a two-lane road that wound around an endless series of hairpin bends. The driver was either super-confident or suicidal, as his preferred strategy for taking these blind corners was a) top speed, and b) simaltaneously overtaking the more sensible slow moving traffic on the wrong side of the road. This led to a couple of near-misses, where all passengers were suddenly woken by the flashing headlights and horns of oncoming traffic bearing down on us at full speed, with us on the wrong side of the road, hemmed-in by a cliff on one side and the 'slow moving' traffic we were in the process of overtaking on the other. Miraculously we survived every time, although I have a feeling that without the cover of darkness we would have seen the roadside littered with the rusting husks of less fortunate buses.

Even the tight fit AND manic driving would have been just about manageable, had the bus been clean. However whilst first appearances were good, when the lights went at our first rest stop I observed a not-insignificant number of cockroaches scrabbling for cover, disappearing back under seats and floorboards. I jerked awake from my foetal position a couple of times in the night due to a skin-crawling, clicking sound near my ears.

Leaving Nha Trang, we took the train. The day train.

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.