From Hanoi we took an overnight sleeper train for 12 hours south along the coast to Hue. Much more comfortable than the one we had in Thailand, there were only 4 beds to a cabin, and I was able to get a much needed 8 hours sleep at least.
Hue is the old capital of Vietnam, and as such is afforded a lot of prestige by the locals. While thereare a lot of tombs to visit, plus a citadel, Matt and I only stayed here for a day and a night. We didmanage to squeeze in a visit to the Citadel, what was the Emperor's abode back in the day, but I must say I was rather disappointed with it. It is rather extensive, as you might expect, with various buildings dedicated to family members and specific activities, and the years have not been particularly kind to it. It has obviously been maintained to a certain extent, but at least half of it is covered in scaffolding and rather dilapidated.
I must admit to getting slightly disillusioned with it and not seeing the final third, however Matt assures me it was the best part. I'll try and get some pics off him.
We'd rented some bikes again for the day, and spent an hour looking for the tomb of Tu Duc (somebody important way back when). I actually really enjoyed this. Rather than just a tomb, you find yourself in a walled estate some 2 hectares big, housing the tomb itself, but also living quarters, a lake, a boathouse and various other accoutrement. This was also used as a summer home for various members of royalty, hence the living quarters and plush landscaping. Apparently there are other tombs and temples which still sport bullet holes left over from the Vietnam conflict in the 60's and bit of the 70's, but we weren't able to travel far enough to find those, much to my disappointment.
From Hue to Hoi An was a short (4 hour) bus ride in relative comfort. One of my favourite places so far, it has oodles of charm, from the French architecture to the beach to the people themselves. The best English speaking by far, old or young even the street sellers and those walking around with books or cigarettes have a lexicon and understanding of our language which surpassed my expectations. We were able to rent bicycles and pedal the 4km to the beach, which was stunning. We ate amazing food in restaurants styled after the Spanish, Italian and French palettes. One of the only things we didn't do was buy a suit from one of the 100+ tailor shops in town. Pretty much every girl we spoke to however had bought a dress or two, and so we felt like they'd bought enough for all of us. We ran into people we'd met in Hanoi (not really that surprising) and had a very good few days of it, including some girls from Melbourne who've offered to show us around when we're there.
Unfortunately time constraints proved restrictive, and after only two nights there we were on yet another overnight sleeper bus to Nah Trang. I shouldn't really be writing about it as we're still here, but this town is like the Miami of Vietnam. Taller buildings, rather commercial, but boy oh boy is the beach a gem. Actually forget about that, the best bit really does have to be the food. Yes I know I've raved about it at pretty much each place I've been, but when you eat out every night, you get a taste for what is good and what isn't. This evening I had a delicious plate of pan-fried swordfish (I saw them take mine out of the tank) accompanied by sauteéd potatoes with bacon and rice. How much did I pay? 80,000 Dong, or for those in the UK, less than 4 quid. For everything. Add on the free cocktail on entrance (tasted like tropical fruit juice) and a free beer, and really, I could stay here forever. The rest of the food has easily been on a par. The only slight dampener on the trip was the explosive storm we had earlier, which left the main streets flooded up to our knees, but even that isn't enough to put me the slightest bit off Nah Trang.
We've spoken to a couple of war vets, including one guy who worked as an interpreter to the American Army when he was 16. It's a rather depressing tale, as once the US forces packed up and turned tail, he was left to deal with the victorious North Vietnamese Communist regime. This entailed four (yes, 4) years of 're-education' where he was taught how to be a 'true Vietnamese citizen'. As a result, nearly 40 years on and he has been left in the lurch. He was never given a job due to his activities with the Americans, and while government policy is now a form of free socialism, i.e. if you have money you can run your own business etc., he has neither the wherewithal nor the skills to either run a business, nor be employed it seems.
Snorkelling and diving are the main reasons to come here, and tomorrow with some luck we snorkel (Matt caught a bit of sun yesterday and is in pain, he's very lobsterish right now) but if we don't do that, then there are some hotsprings and natural mudbaths to visit, followed by a massage. More on that later...
Hue is the old capital of Vietnam, and as such is afforded a lot of prestige by the locals. While thereare a lot of tombs to visit, plus a citadel, Matt and I only stayed here for a day and a night. We didmanage to squeeze in a visit to the Citadel, what was the Emperor's abode back in the day, but I must say I was rather disappointed with it. It is rather extensive, as you might expect, with various buildings dedicated to family members and specific activities, and the years have not been particularly kind to it. It has obviously been maintained to a certain extent, but at least half of it is covered in scaffolding and rather dilapidated.
I must admit to getting slightly disillusioned with it and not seeing the final third, however Matt assures me it was the best part. I'll try and get some pics off him.We'd rented some bikes again for the day, and spent an hour looking for the tomb of Tu Duc (somebody important way back when). I actually really enjoyed this. Rather than just a tomb, you find yourself in a walled estate some 2 hectares big, housing the tomb itself, but also living quarters, a lake, a boathouse and various other accoutrement. This was also used as a summer home for various members of royalty, hence the living quarters and plush landscaping. Apparently there are other tombs and temples which still sport bullet holes left over from the Vietnam conflict in the 60's and bit of the 70's, but we weren't able to travel far enough to find those, much to my disappointment.
From Hue to Hoi An was a short (4 hour) bus ride in relative comfort. One of my favourite places so far, it has oodles of charm, from the French architecture to the beach to the people themselves. The best English speaking by far, old or young even the street sellers and those walking around with books or cigarettes have a lexicon and understanding of our language which surpassed my expectations. We were able to rent bicycles and pedal the 4km to the beach, which was stunning. We ate amazing food in restaurants styled after the Spanish, Italian and French palettes. One of the only things we didn't do was buy a suit from one of the 100+ tailor shops in town. Pretty much every girl we spoke to however had bought a dress or two, and so we felt like they'd bought enough for all of us. We ran into people we'd met in Hanoi (not really that surprising) and had a very good few days of it, including some girls from Melbourne who've offered to show us around when we're there.
Unfortunately time constraints proved restrictive, and after only two nights there we were on yet another overnight sleeper bus to Nah Trang. I shouldn't really be writing about it as we're still here, but this town is like the Miami of Vietnam. Taller buildings, rather commercial, but boy oh boy is the beach a gem. Actually forget about that, the best bit really does have to be the food. Yes I know I've raved about it at pretty much each place I've been, but when you eat out every night, you get a taste for what is good and what isn't. This evening I had a delicious plate of pan-fried swordfish (I saw them take mine out of the tank) accompanied by sauteéd potatoes with bacon and rice. How much did I pay? 80,000 Dong, or for those in the UK, less than 4 quid. For everything. Add on the free cocktail on entrance (tasted like tropical fruit juice) and a free beer, and really, I could stay here forever. The rest of the food has easily been on a par. The only slight dampener on the trip was the explosive storm we had earlier, which left the main streets flooded up to our knees, but even that isn't enough to put me the slightest bit off Nah Trang.We've spoken to a couple of war vets, including one guy who worked as an interpreter to the American Army when he was 16. It's a rather depressing tale, as once the US forces packed up and turned tail, he was left to deal with the victorious North Vietnamese Communist regime. This entailed four (yes, 4) years of 're-education' where he was taught how to be a 'true Vietnamese citizen'. As a result, nearly 40 years on and he has been left in the lurch. He was never given a job due to his activities with the Americans, and while government policy is now a form of free socialism, i.e. if you have money you can run your own business etc., he has neither the wherewithal nor the skills to either run a business, nor be employed it seems.
Snorkelling and diving are the main reasons to come here, and tomorrow with some luck we snorkel (Matt caught a bit of sun yesterday and is in pain, he's very lobsterish right now) but if we don't do that, then there are some hotsprings and natural mudbaths to visit, followed by a massage. More on that later...
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