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Published: January 26th 2011
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The next stop south along the Vietnamese coast was Hue, pronounced 'H Way'. The experience getting there on the over night sleeper train for 12 hours was moderately ok. The four bunk 'soft sleeper' compartments had sold out leaving only the three level six sleeper hard sleepers. I opted for the bottom bunk which was the best of what was left. But twelve hours on a 600KM train journey for about GB20.00/USD30.00 Isn't bad, I guess?!?!
Hue, itself wasn't a particular tourist spot, although the beer and food in the western / hotel area is more expensive. It was more westernised here than in Hanoi but the only thing here particularly worth seeing is the Citadel, a former imperial city. It was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war by the Americans and they are still doing it up. These days it is just a tourist attraction but still an interesting place to visit, I got a cyclo ride there and back, for about 3 quid!
Hoi An, about three or four hours south is a small town of about 150 thousand people. It is tourist central and I only stayed for one night. It is a cafe culture spot
with lots of resturants and boutique shops. The hotel was excellent and I didn't have to do anything myself except for get up in the morning! I just happened to stay on the full moon. On the full moon the tide comes in over the rustic cobble stone promenade, itself lined with cafe's and resturants. They put candles in the water and let them drift out to sea. This, apparently, brings them good luck. I suspect however that this is mainly for the tourists because the people who have all the luck are the people selling the candles for 10000 Dong each. I think there is probably someone further down the river picking the candles up, bringing them back and selling them again!!!
I arrived in Nha Trang the next morning after another twelve hour sleeper journey. This time on a coach. Interesting experience. The coaches appear to be single decker from the outside but have three rows of bunk beds and two isles. There isn't much room but just about enough to get comfortable enough for a long journey, it's a smart way to travel.
Nha Trang, Is pretty much accepted as the backpacker seaside party town.
However, the big hotel chains and resorts seem to be moving in so I expect it won't be long before the backpackers start moving out. This was an excellent place to visit with plenty of markets selling to locals their wares, and plenty of places to get the local food as well as having plenty of western resturants... a recommended destination for a future holiday.
It was definately worth staying here for a few nights because I met loads of great people, some of whom I'm here in HCMC (Saigon) with. We did a boat trip around four of the islands in the Nha Trang bay. For USD7.00 we got the boat trip, a massive lunch and wine, visits to four islands and an excellent social event, very well recommended. Also, Nha Trang, is home to the worlds longest cable car... at least, they say it is... may be it was when it was built?
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