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Published: December 6th 2007
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Xin chao,
We got to Hue at 7am after a restless night on the openbus. Unfortunately, it was raining in Hue as well, GREAT! Straight away we were hounded by people wanting us to stay at their hotel, we just pushed past them so we could find our own place to stay. Just a little up the roadand a woman runs out of a hotel saying, 'You have a look, cheap room', 'Well OK then, its pouring down so why not!'. The rooms were a little dated but good enough. Rhonda and Kate had got the sleeper train, so we had to go meet them at about 11am. Enough time for breakfast. Hue was the first place we had seen that had pancakes, so we had banana pancakes with chocolate yum!
We had a wonder down to the train station to meet the others, then made our way to the citadel, which is another sort of city within walls. It had a defence line on the outer walls with canons, then inside was really tranquil, with places to worship, lakes and pagoda's. Luckily the weather had brightened up abit so we missed the rain. A cyclone had hit the
fish n chips any1??
Not what you would normally put on a bike-yes they are goldfish! southand was moving towards the north, so we were getting in the middle, but it was quite far out at sea, so we were OK. Crossing back over the bridge from the citadel, we realised that we were walking over the perfume river, but it didn't look so special because of the flooding from the cyclone.
That evening, i had my next adventurous try at eating eel, which is actually quite meaty and tasty. It looked like pieces of snake on a plate though. It was Kates dish, she is the adventurous one of the group when it comes to eating and drinking things. We decided we would get some t-shirts from the market with 'Tiger beer' on them as it is sold everywhere. It was so funny when we had them all on, we called ourselves 'Team Tiger'
Xin chao (From Hoi An)
We them moved on to Hoi An, where tailor made clothes are in abundance, so naturally Rob and I gave it ago! From jackets, dresses, silk, tops, trousers, satin, cotton..... the list goes on. You can take a picture into a tailor of something you like, they measure you and by the next
Pile-on!
This is not the worst we've seen either! day it is done. You can choose everything, down to the colour and style of stitching, its amazing. Rob choose to have 2 shirts that he liked and they fit amazingly, and i got a silk dress made with every detail i wanted on it. It was an amazing experience, all these vietnamese women rushing around you, getting the fit just right. Because of fittings in different places, the shopping took up the best part of the time we had there, but it was well worth it and even Rob thought so to with his perfect fitting shirts.
The weather started to warm up towards the second day.The aftermath of the cyclonein Hoi An was quite bad towards the river, we ate in a small restuarant called the blue dragon and the water marks of how high the water rose were still visable on the walls (See picture), it was over 2 metres. In the evening, when we went down to the river again, the tide was in again and nearly entering the restuarants.
After being fully shopped out in Hoi An, we decided we would get the train to Nha Trang. The train...well we were slightly conned...we
The citadel
Entrance to the citadel in Hue payed extra for the train as it was quicker than on the bus, it would have taken another 12 bumpy hours, but the train was 9 hours and smoother. HOWEVER, we were thrown in with all the locals, in crumbled old chairs, the whole carriage stunk as well and the toilets! ... they were smeely and dirty, wee everywhere, so much so, we would rather hold it! Plus that the train ended up taking longer than the bus because we had a delay. The open bus was definately a better and cleaner option. The amount of starring, that me and 'P' (As we are both blonde) was starting to get on our nerves. Also people want to touch our skin and hair because we are white and blonde. Bit creepy, when women start to stroke your arms! As soon as we got off the feeling was mutual ... thank f*** for that. In fact i think we all said it.
So until our next blog... Party on dudes
Rob and Han x x x x
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