A few days before Christmas I was busy chatting with my aunt and I told her that I felt that the magic had gone out of Christmas. I asked her if it was a part of growing older. To her credit she didn’t laugh at me (I’m just 28!) and said that it sometimes feels like that. You need to find the magic for yourself she said. She couldn’t have said anything more true.

Vietnam has a relatively small population of Christians and we didn’t think that it would be celebrated but it is. It certainly isn’t as big a celebration as one in Goa is but it did us good to see the streets lighting up. It was the eve of Christmas and our train arrived late afternoon (and it was late!) in Da Nang. We caught a cab (prearranged by our home stay) at the train station which was to take us to Hoi An. With the rain on our heads and the aches in our bones, I was glad for the small bit of comfort.