Blogs from Thua Thien - Huế, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 4

Last night was so cold I put on my fleece jacket in the middle of the night! The sheet and single blanket that was ridiculously hot in Siem Reap and just right in Da Lat was insufficient here in Hoi An. Of course there is no heating (yet?), so as we go farther north and higher in elevation, the temperatures inside and outside are much cooler. We now have to bring our jackets on the bus, rather than just for evening activities. Yesterday the wind was very strong except right in the city. The highs were around 20° C, but the humidity, wind and cloud combined to make it feel cooler. Thuy and Phyllis, who is from California, are wearing light down jackets. We took a different road back to Danang, which is north of Hoi ... read more

Early start as we had planned a tour with the stop and go tour office to take us around the dmz area and then onto the national park to our hotel! Got picked up from our hotel by our driver mr hoy at 730!pouring with rain so we were glad we could just get into a car and be driven to the sites!on the way mr hoy told us some history about the dmz and also a funny story about how he met his wife (the man was a charmer-he even sung Bryan Adams at his wedding to his wife haha) We watched a short film about the war and drove along the highway of horror were there was bombing for 82 days. We stopped at the long hung church which remained untouched through the fighting ... read more

Picked up from our hotel an hour later than planned but sleeper bus we were being transported in for our 4 hr journey was pretty good and also very cheap (£3 each from hoi an to hue.) greeted at the hong thien ruby hotel by a fruit juice and platter of fruit which was a lovely welcome!room wasn't ready so had some Vietnamese food in a local restaurant (only westerners there-food was amazing-proper Vietnamese food!!) we then sought out to explore the inside of the citadel in hue which was very impressive! Walking around the imperial enclosure we learnt a lot about the history of hue and how it was the capital of Vietnam until the 1940s! For dinner we went to a restaurant beside our hotel and then walked around the streets-it has been the ... read more

We arrived at our hostel in Da Nang, which is another coastal city. We got settled and went out for another motorbike ride. We had spent a little over $5 on the motorbike rental and wanted to get the full value of the money out of it, after all. We drove along the coast up to the peninsula. On the way, it started raining, so we pulled over at a little cafe where no one spoke English. I tried to ask for coffee. I tried to ask for Coca Cola. I tried to ask for tea. They gave me warm beer. Once it stopped raining, we continued on up some mountain roads with beautiful views of Da Nang. We drove up a very sketchy steep narrow concrete road for a long time. At one point, the ... read more

Monday, 6 July - walked into Hoi An to do some more sightseeing. Visited the Market which is a brilliant insight into how the locals live and eat. Early in the morning they set up their stalls with fish, seafood, chicken, pork and vegetables. It is a riot of colours and frenetic activity. First we visited the Minh Huong Ancestral Hall which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built by Chinese settlers in the late 18th century who obtained vietnamese citizenship to worship their ancestors and who had founded the Minh Huong village. Deities worshipped here include the Thien Hau Holy Mother, the God of Earth, and the God of Fortune. The temple also used to serve as the administrative office of the Minh Huong village council. Even today the temple is used by ... read more