Hoi An and Hue

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Sorry for delayed blog but been a busy few days. Havingsurvived the 17hr train journey from Saigon to Danang we jumped into a taxi to Hoi An about ten mins away (and still managed to nearly crash and emergency stop a few times, driving in this countryis crazy!).

Hoi An is a lovely little porttown halfway up Vietnam, it has loads of old chinese and french buildings, lots of little cafes and restaurants and markets. It is the sort of little town my mum would love. Havingspend a day wandering round andalso doing a bit ofshopping, Babs was able to get every 24 episoade every for about20quid so was very pleased, we went out for a meal of local dishes - loads of fish etc - and had a few drinks, which again developed into a lot of drinks and a heavy night. This wasn't ideal when we had arranged to go for suit fittings the next day at 8am!

Hoi An is famous for its tailors and we all got custom made suits, I got two suits, shirts and ties plus a pair of custom made shoes and jeans and posted it all home for under 150 pounds, its all excellent quality so I recommedanyone in SE Asia to get to Hoi An its brilliant! Thatevening was a quiet on in our room watching the United game,early night did me the world of good as we moved on quickly to Hue.

Hue is about 1hr up the road although the bus was a shambles taking around 2 1/2hrs, they put in loads of stops at random restaurants on the buses as they make all their money from commissions. Hue was the capital of Vietnam for years and the old city is a surrounded by large walls and also dominated by the palace ruins. The palace would have been very grand from pictures but due to the extreme weather and bombingduring the war little is left but it was still interesting to visit and learn more about Vietnam before all it became a french colony and the fighting began.

As the old imperial city theoutskirts of Hue contain many large tombs. Theold emperors actually designed their own tombs and spent lots of time there using it as a retreat from everyday life which I found odd but they are very grand places with lots of different buildings honouring them and also very lush grounds fulls of trees and huge man made lakes as the emporors believed they would spend eternity there once they died. They are very peaceful places. The best way toreach all the tombs is by boat which made a change from dodgy motorbikes!An early night followed as the next day we had an 5am start to go to the demiliterized zone, which contary to its name is where most the fighting in the war took place as it was the border between North and South Vietnam. We had a really good english speaking tourguide who gave us plenty of info on the war and it was a really good trip although as you have to go through the country roads did take a 12 hr round trip! As we didnt have to be up until altethenext day we took full advantage of Hues nightlife and went to oneof the nicest venues I have every been too, a bigdancefloor, cools bars and lighting, free good quality pool table, cheap drinks and a large chilled out outdoor area next to the lake, this would have been amazing had there been more than 5people in there, but itdidntmatter, a few more beers and we stayed until 4ish despite being the only people in there.

We are goingup to the capital Hanoi today, again another17odd hrs by train but the scenery of countryside and mountains is excellent on the train and much smoother than the bloody bus!

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Photos

Sunset by the river
Sunset in Hue the imperial capital of Vietnam

Me and my personal stylist
My tailor in Hoi An, great suit and stupid prices, they would make you anything you asked for!

The tombs
Very peaceful, beautiful places

Hoi An
Typical building in Hoi An, mainly old chinese styles.

Nightlife
Finally bothered to bring my camera on a night out, bit of an error

Comments

[Mum]

You are right I would love Hoi An. Can see where it is on atlas and looks a bit far from an airport for a quick weekend break! but good to have a photo of you looking smart in a suit so that I can send this bit of the blog to grandma! Keep enjoying it, take care, love Mum x

[Hannah Cheney DELTA]

Suits Ahoy..
ooooooh looking dapper in suit.. Would not have expected that while on travels.. Sounds like a good bargian and experience.. Sounds like your having fun :) x