A Mountain of Buddhas and Hoa's Place

After Hanoi we thought we'd make our way south to Hue, the old Imperial capitol, on an overnight bus. All of the sleeper buses were booked so we ended up on a seater for the eleven hour ride. Being the first picked up we counted our blessings and claimed the very back with the extra leg room. Turns out we were sitting over the engine. They didn't charge extra for the 8 and a half hour sauna.

The Citadel and Imperial ruins in Hue are beautiful...mostly destroyed by bombs during various wars but the remains are impressive. From there we took an amazing coastal train trip to Da Nang in search of a tiny guesthouse on China Beach called Hoa's Place. It was recommended by two slightly intoxicated Australians we met in Cambodia....so we took their word for it? :)

When we got there they had no rooms available so we stayed at the hotel down the street. We did spend a considerable amount of time hanging out at Hoa's- he's an former southern Vietnamese army vet who says things like "Hey cool maaaaan.....relax, chill out." Across from Hoa's is Marble Mountain, a mountain filled with caves and marble Buddhas (there's a lady Buddha- I never knew!) We climbed to the pagoda at the top for an amazing sunset.

Oh, and I went to the real beach for the first time ever.

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