We are in Hue at the moment, waiting for our bus to leave to go to Hanoi (Capital of Vietnam). It seems to be taking forever to come around. We have booked a sleeper bus to take us through the night. Due to our last experience with the overnight bus, having to sit up the whole time and getting no sleep. So we are going to try this sleeper bus option. We have no extra photos to put on this time because I (Candice) lost Jamie’s camera on the bus! We got off the bus at Hue and I left it in the netting thing behind the seat. I got the hotel to take me back to the bus and have a look in it and someone had stolen it out of it. I have my suspicions of who it was. When we asked the question, "had you seen it?" to one of the girls sitting behind us she looked guilty. But I couldn't accuse her, although I would have liked too. However if I see her using our camera at the next place we go to, she's mince meat!
Hoi An:
We spent 4 nights in Hoi An because it had a really good feel about it. It's really friendly and the markets have some great stuff. You just walk down the street, which have HEAPS of stores from shoes, tailors, souvenirs everything and the locals will always be yelling out "Hello, you come buy here". There are these ladies with little chips, beer, chocolate and water stands and they really insist that you buy something, to help their family.
We got to learn a bit of Vietnamese at one of the local restaurants from this young girl 'Kim Cuc' she was delightful. We ended up going there twice because she was so lovely.
We went to My Son (pronounced Mee Sun) ruins on a tour for the day. It was really hot but interesting. Most of the buildings had been destroyed in the war, which was sad. However it was a great site.
Hue:Hue wasn't at all what we expected it to be. It's amazing how each town has its own unique feel. We spent two nights at Hue. Whilst we were there we went to the old imperial city within the Citadel. The fortress walls are still up and standing, the site was amazing. The area also has a moat around it and you can go inside to view the old buildings. Some where destroyed in the war, also sad but adds character to the surroundings. The following day we went on a 'Dragon Boat' tour that takes you up the Perfume River to see a Pagoda and a few tombs of where the old kings are buried. The amount of detail that gos into these buildings surrounding the tombs is incredible.
We met a English couple on the tour who are also traveling the world like us. They left in March, so they are a little bit further ahead then us. We then saw them again on the sleeper bus when we departed Hue to Hoi An so we had some people to talk to.
Hanoi:We arrived in Hanoi at 5:30am and caught a taxi to the hotel, sharing the taxi fare with the English couple. We got our rooms and went straight to sleep, after a long night on the sleeper bus!
