Taking off where we left on the last post, we arrived into Hanoi after the bus-boat-bus trip from Cat Ba Island. After turning down a hoard of sketchy taxis near the bus terminal, we managed to haggle ourselves a ride with 2 other travelers to the train station at a basement bargain price of 50,000 dong (when the journey on the way to the bus station had cost 70,000 dong on the taxi meter - we're finally getting a hang of this!). We had some hours to kill before the 11pm train, and were feeling a little peckish (as we normally are), so we had some delicious street food!
BBQ street food! (yes-we bought raw beef off the street!)
The ever-inviting Hanoi train station!
We boarded the 'soft sleeper' train around 10.30pm and arrived into Hue, Central Vietnam, on Friday mid-morning - the ride was reasonable, until around 4am when a change in our 4-person cabin brought along a family with their screaming 2 year old.
Hue is, to Mitch anyway, somewhat reminiscent of Hanoi - just a step below in craziness - the streets are large with tree-lined walkways and there are very few hassle-rs. The remarkable feature of Hue is that most residents of the city still live behind the 10km long (2m thick) walls of the Citadel. The city was the capital and home to the emperors of the Nguyen empire and thus it is fortified by citadels (3 in some areas) and similarly there are many tombs, pagodas and temples. We only had the pleasure of staying for one night in Hue as we were keen to make our way to Hoi An - below is a number of photos of Hue. On the first afternoon we visited the city's Citadel followed by the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City (a citadel-within-a-citadel-within-a-citadel).
Tree-lined streets - and Jennifer!
The side entrance to the Imperial Enclosure
Spot Mitch!
As we only had a half-day before our onward journey to Hoi An, we hired a motorbike for half a day and visited the Tomb of Tu Doc - Emperor from 1848 to 1883. See photos below!
We took a 4-hour bus ride from Hue to Hoi An - a considerably easier journey than our last overnight train! Hoi An is a beautiful city that has a long history steeped in trade with other countries. The city itself is charming - quiet streets where cars are not permitted (the sign says for "primitive vehicles only" - I guess that means Homo sapiens ), great food (probably the best we've had in Vietnam) and in general, a relaxed atmosphere. On our first full day, we hit the pavement looking for the best tailor we could find - and I'm happy to report that we now have a tailor in the Orient. We spent the first day mostly searching for the right tailor, and in the evening (around 7pm - the Hoi An-ese work hard, their days start at 8am and run until 9:30pm!) we placed our orders for a suit each. Today we visited the My Son ruins from the Cham civilisation - although encountered our first real downpour, which is actually pretty good considering it has been forecast-ed to be raining non-stop! See the photos below!
Enjoying another quality meal!
Hoi An
Bring sexy back.
Guard dogs in Vietnam are generally quite relaxed.
Jennifer being fitted!
We are now planning to stay in Hoi An for another 3 nights, make our way to Mui Ne and then onto the final leg of our journey together back to Saigon. We're planning on undertaking a cooking class tomorrow - so we can make some killer Pho Bo (not dog) when we get home!
Jen and Mitch
