Happy Christmas everyone! Hope you have all had a great time & enjoyed the snow! We have had a very different Christmas! We enjoyed the rest of our time in Hoi An & on the last day the rain stopped and the sun came out which was a very welcome sight. We also did another cooking course, although it was more watching than actual cooking the food was delicious & we met some interesting people. We arrived in Hue on the eve of Christmas eve & checked into our lovely 4* hotel, the staff were really friendly & we had a [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, The internet access is not great here so photos might have to come with the next blog. Took a private (no Mum, we didn't drive) minivan to Hue yesterday and went the scenic route. It was lovely- stopped at Marble Mountain which had amazing caves and of course marble. Bought a jade marble braclet for myself and a few other trinkets for the kids. Lots of budha statues / dragons etc made out of marble and heaps of caves and steps leading to great views. Check out pic (when posted) of a naked Dan in front of a statue....... [View Full Entry]

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The best way to deal with the traffic is to join it! A highlight of our Vietnam trip was a day on the back of a motorbike touring the rice fields, stopping at small village markets, standing for a moment beside American bunkers left after the war and visiting the Buddhist monastery where Thich Nhat Hahn (the well known monk who along with others, was expelled from Vietnam after the war) first became a monk. Truly a place of beauty and peacefulness after the bustling cities and busy roads. Although Vietnam speaks of itself as a Buddhist country there seems to [View Full Entry]

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Nach Hue reisten wir mit dem Nachtzug, der deutliche Unterschiede zu den chinesischen Zügen aufwies. Wir fuhren mit dem Hardsleeper und tatsächlich waren die Betten noch härter als in der chinesischen Variante, was ich mir vorher kaum hätte vorstellen können. Positiv war allerdings, dass im Gegensatz zu China die Abteile hier nicht offen, sondern mit einer Tür versehen waren, die abschließbar war. Die vietnamesische Familie mit Kind stieg bereits gegen 22:30 Uhr wieder aus, so dass wir für den Rest der Nacht ein ganzes Sechserabteil für uns hatten. In Hue angekommen fanden wir eine für vietnam [View Full Entry]

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Right, now that I'm on the mend and managed to get out a bit I'll put in a full update. Vietnamese Music - while most of it is asian soundnding versions of the sort of sickly poppy bilge the UK would usually submit as a Eurovision entry or worse - rave and hip hop! On my last day in Hue 3 days ago I was given an unexpoected treat - all day! The day must have been some sort of Festival as I cant imagine why anyone would hire a band for 12 hours during the day or why a band [View Full Entry]

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I am now fully recovered from the illnesses of the last week however, a more ominous problem has shown its face as of yesterday. My old friend tendonitis in my left foot, very painful and debilitating. If this doesn't clear up then it's game over and I may as well go home. Anyway, I've not given up yet and I still might be able to buy some analgesic cream from a pharmacy - that will control it at the very least. Changing the subject I will never moan about Britains rainy climate ever again after this - it has rained solidly [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Hue and stayed in the first hotel we came to (where the bus dropped us!) partly due to the very friendly guy working there calling us in (and knocking down the price). Got settled in then went for a stroll along the slightly more chilled streets (although with even more rickshaw and motorbike peddlers) across the river to the Old Citadel - a walled part of town enclosing the older bits and pieces. In here we carried on in to the Imperial Enclosure - effectively a walled area for the royals of the 1800's within the walled citadel, and [View Full Entry]

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This morning we left Hoi An and took a short bus ride to Hue on the northcentral coast. We walked to the Citadel which is the big thing to see there. It's an old city that a king built surrounded by a moat and a brick wall. It's massive inside. In the middle there is another city called the Imperial City or Forbidden City with its own moat and wall. this was the place for the king and his family. It was a really cool place. The US bombed it heavily in the war so it's in disrepair but they are [View Full Entry]

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Dimanche 18 octobre, 6h du matin, il pleut, on part en autobus voir la zone demillitarisee. Ils nous ont fait attendre en face d'un autre hotel 30 min. pour prendre deux autres touristes. Enfin on part pour deux heures de route avant de s'arreter dejeuner dans un resto a la croisee de deux autoroutes. On se dirige ensuite sur l'une d'elles ou on nous montre une montagne au loin, la "rock pile", ou les americains avaient etablis un poste de surveillance. Deux minutes pour prendre des photos.. On repart ensuite et on traverse un village ou les habitants ont ete [View Full Entry]

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Salut ! ca fait deja quelques jours quon a (re)quitte Hanoi ou on avait du refaire un crochet pour aller voir la pagode aux parfums. Un peu a contre-coeur quon y etait retournes, mais on dirait que dans le nord du Vietnam, tous les chemins menent a Hanoi. Alors une fois vue la fameuse pagode signalee sur toutes les cartes dasie du sud-est (puisque cest un lieu de pelerinage bouddhiste important), on etaient trop contents de dire adieu a la capitale et a ses habitants trop prompts a larnaque. On sest achetes en beaux dollars americains des billets dautobus "open" avec [View Full Entry]

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