Well after a few tough days of lying on the beach, we continued our journey north to Hanoi where we arrived this morning.
This stage introduced us to sleeper buses, which are a Vietnamese term for sitting in the most uncomfortable seats you can imagine while the driver takes the bus around corners at full speed, into the ditch and up bouncing around on the pavement, while beeping his horn, talking loudly, playing incredibly bad music, putting the lights on full and generaly doing anything to stop you sleeping. So the day after is spent walking around in a zombie like state.
But it was worth it. After the first bus ride we made it to Hoi An, the town of 200 tailor stores. Most people get suits or dresses made for formal occasions but seeing as we have no formal occasions for the next year we decided shorts were the better option. It was lots of fun and they ended up being exactly how we wanted, not like some other stories we heard.
Hoi An is the most beautiful town we have visited but there is not an awful lot to do. We spent half a day touring the My Son Cham ruins and the other half hiring bikes to take to the beach, but felt there was not much left to do... other than go to a beach party in the night.
The next day we tiredly got a car to the Marble Mountains, where there are Buddist temples inside the natural caves, beautiful but the paths were very steep and it was about the hottest day.
From there we took the train to Hue because it was supposed to be picturesque, but unfortunately all the locals shut their curtains and we couldn't see a thing.
After a day in Hue it was time to get into the night bus again and head to Hanoi. We've had a day here and will go to Halong Bay for 3 nights tomorrow.
