Lovely Hoi An and Hue

---

Aug 6 - arrive way too early in the morning in Hoi An
Aug 7 - 8 - shopping at the tailors and shoe makers in Hoi An, tour to the ruins at My Son
Rainy day and a direct bus to Hue
Aug 9 - Day sight seeing in Hue
Aug 10 - Boat tour to the mausoleums outside of Hue and a nasty motorbike burn on my leg...


Evie, Jen and I got in way too early after the bus from hell to Danang. We walked around the cute town of Hoi An, which is known for all its tailors and shoemakers. We each got coats made and a few pairs of shoes. We took an excursion out to the Cham ruins at My Son, but after having seen the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, they were a bit of a let down. Sadly, many of these Cham ruins were destroyed by the Americans during the war.

The record of bad Vietnamese tours and travel hassles continued - the My Son tour was a little annoying only because of the number of people. However, we had booked a tour from Hoi An up to Hue, stopping at Marble Mountain to see some cave temples and a beach. We only realized after having passed Danang and heading up into the mountains along the coast that this was actually a direct bus. The driver spoke no English, and again, we felt like suckers. But this wouldn't be the worst of the bad tourist experience in Vietnam. I've decided to focus on the highlights of this country, but Vietnam really needs to regulate their tourism better...

Hue was a cute town with a beautiful citadel and Imperial city. Granted, it is rather in need of repair in many parts. We also took a boat cruise up the Perfume river to see the old mausoleums - it sounds more magical than it was, but some of the places we stopped were incredible - Thien Mu Pagoda (which was the pagoda where Thich Quang Duc came from - he burned himself in protest in 1963. We had seen photos of this back in HCMC), Tu Duc's tomb, Hon Chen temple (very small Cham temple), Khai Dinh's mausoleum with beautiful mosaics, Minh Mang Mausoleum.

It was great to see all these places, but the tour itself was a bit irritating - as we've been finding, you're typically told one thing and get something completely different. I also was lucky enough to get a special souvenier from the vietnamese motorbike after burning my leg on the exhaust pipe - I've seen many other tourists with this exact same injury. It was only first degree, but it hurt a lot!

The three of us barely made it back in time for our night bus to Hanoi - we had been picking up the pace a bit because Evie needed to get to Hanoi to make her flight back to Bangkok.

---

Photos

Cyclos in Hue
These are common all over Vietnam - you sit in front while the guy on the bike pushes you along.

Fish
Imperial City, Hue

Khai Dinh's Mausoleum
outside of Hue

Near Tu Duc's tomb
outside Hue

Comments

[Michael Seto]

Ah Hoi An - just like I remember
Hi Kris, I recognize that building with the red sign from Hoi An as well. I spent New Years 2003 there. I also felt the same way about the tourism stuff in Vietnam - too many people pestering me: "cyclo, shoe shine, postcards?" I think Vietnam peaked as a destination in 1995. I felt like the locals all saw me and treated me like a walking ATM. Definitely liked Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia much better - still need to get to Laos.