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The journey from Hue to Hoi was a two leg, pretty eventful one. First leg a train journey from Hue to Danang. There are more direct routes but guide books rave about the train journey. They're not wrong, the scenery's amazing. The train travels right along the coast so we had mountains covered in plush greenery to one side and sheer cliff faces and the sea to the other. Only problem was that the train was a sleeper so rather than a seat we had a bed each - and you couldn't sit on the bed as the one above was too low. We stood in the corridor taking in the view for the most part, meaning we were witness to a man running down the train with his sons spew in his hands! Nice (more red bull possibly?)
Next leg was a bus from Danang to Hoi An. First hurdle was getting from train station to bus station as no drivers wanted to take us - lots of offers to take us all the way to Hoi An though! Eventually persuaded a guy to take us and put on his meter, he wasn't happy about it though!
Got
on bus, sat on backseat and watched 3 bikes being squeezed on, along with a full quota of passengers, our huge backpacks, sacks of potatoes and rice etc - amazing the space they found!
A young guy came over to talk to us shortly into the journey. His name was Hoa Ngyuen and he is also known as 'The Boy With No Face' We chatted for the whole journey - well as much as we could, his English was very good but written better than spoken so there was a lot of scribbling in book going on. He was injured by a US Phosphorous bomb when he was about 6 and a Swedish guy that saw him on the news paid for him to have treatment. He gave me a DVD of a documentary that was made following his story. Again I kept thinking he would have another agenda but he didn't, or not one I know of yet. He gave me the DVD, didn't want a penny and we've exchanged a couple of brief emails since. He is studying Economics in Hanoi and doing very well for himself. An amazing story.
http://www.folkeryden.com/_files/BroschyrHOApress.pdf
Hoi An is a
Pool demon.
Paula hustling the locals. beautiful place - one of the least touched by war in Vietnam so the architecture is lovely - very French colonial - and to make things even better no cars are allowed in the Old Town Centre so it's really peaceful. Enjoy just exploring the first day, wandering down some of the tiny alleyways and side streets and to the front on the river.
There are gorgeous golden beaches a short cycle away and we have our first day (or half a day as it turned out to be thanks to a brewing storm) on the beach. Cycled there and back from our hotel and I manage to avoid damaging myself in any way! Stationary or while moving along in busy traffic.
That evening, after a phone call home I track Xan down in a nearby bar sitting with two Vietnamese ladies, apparently they approached him as they wanted to practice their English! Should never have let him out by himself without his 'I have a girlfriend' top on.
After eating in a place they recommend (turned out they were not just after Xan's body and we had a great chat with them about local life) we
Yes, that is a sweat patch.
In his defence it was forty degrees. head to a bar for a nightcap and a game of pool. Just as I sink the black to win the game, Xan tells me the winner is playing a local guy who has been watching from a nearby table! A number of games with a couple of local guys follow. Great how easy it is to communicate with someone by tapping a table and giving a thumbs up when you only know one or two words of each others language.
Despite my recent form, we spend our last day cycling round a nearby Island. At the port (some plastic seats and a canopy cafe by the river) we are eventually directed to an old lady seated under a parasol to buy tickets, load our bikes via a plank onto a rickety wooden boat and take a seat beside the locals who are pretty stunned to see us, unless they always just stare open mouthed at people they don't know.
The Island itself is amazing - not a tourist shop, taylor or tout in sight. Great cycling round observing day to day life, the farming, fishing, building, carpentry going on. Unfortunately have to head back to land when we realise that the ruralness of the Island means that there's nowhere to eat on it!
As well as being a very pretty place, Hoi An also has some amazing restaurants of a huge range of budgets. From a tiny place we stumble across on a backstreet that does amazing veggie food to an Lonely Planet recommended place that does a slow cooked clay pot stew to die for, we have many amazing meals while there.
From Hoi An we get our first night bus, south towards Nha Trang. We have heard some horror stories about how cramped and uncomfy these can be but land on our feet when we find we have the whole back row of beds - yes beds - (5 spaces!) for just the two of us, otherwise xan's legs might have had to hang out the back window to fit in!
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