Into the glorious Vietnam - Hue and Hoi An

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And at last we enter the country we have most been looking forward to, the resilient and beautiful Vietnam. After a LOT of faffing at immigration control at the border from Laos, we finally made it in. The first thing I notice about Vietnam compared to Laos is the amount of people - everywhere I look, working away in the rice paddies or scooting past on the country's vehicle of choice, motorbikes, the population appears much larger. And everyone is doing something. Busy busy busy.


Once off the bus instead of tuk tuk drivers, we are swarmed with motorbike drivers who want to take us into Hue centre and we manage to get the price down to a quarter of what they were asking for at first. Hue is a fresh and peaceful city buzzing with people slinking by in hordes of bikes, the women especially covered from the sun in their straw hats to their arm length gloves in case of getting the tan that they so fear. After a walk along the Perfume River and trying the local dishes we give in to the one of the Easy Riders and get a cheap, informative and very fun tour on motorbikes around the city for two days.


There is a lot to see in Hue, thousands of beautiful tombs, sumptuous temples left over from the Nguyen dynasty, big important governmental buildings like the walled city and Pagodas which are still in use by Monks and of which we got to see them praying in. The Pagoda we saw is probably the most famous in Vietnam as it used to be the home of the monk Thich Quang Duc, who famously drove to Saigon in 1963 and burnt himself to death to protest against the Mao Dienh Diem regime who discriminated against Buddhists. We got to see his car which was very very eerie and sad to look at, next to the tragic photo of the event. We love Hue, it feels almost like Paris or somewhere, but we have little time for relaxing and so move on South. We do not have time to go North to Hanoi etc but this just means we will have to return at some point!


We then got a short bus to Hoi An, the famous tailor town. I instantly get measured for the most beautiful dresses, coats, boots and a cape that I can think of and got them sent home. (They copy top designers perfectly!!) The first night we got there was the start of Legendary Festival, in which the whole town follows the small parades of young men dressed in bright Chinese dragon costumes, banging drums. The streets were absolutely packed with people, each one on a motorbike, slowly moving through each other. The festival lasted all weekend, and there was still drumming going on Monday night too, with the smallest boys wearing bright masks having a go. Its so nice to be somewhere where locals are celebrating, even though all we understand of it is something to do with the full moon!


On the Sunday we rented some bicycles and explored further out of the city, including a road that just completely stopped! We relaxed on the gorgeous white sands of the beach and swam in the warm waters that hold the most beautiful views of the local islands and cotton wool clouds melting by.

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