Hanoi just got more and more chaotic! The next day we went to Halong Bay which is about 3 hours north of Hanoi. The weather wasn't the greatest but we sailed on a 'junk' boat all day inbetween limestone rocks and walked through caves. On the way home there was a huge car accident in front of our tour bus where a motorcycle was wrapped around a car wheel and bodies and bikes were everywhere... it was horrible to see and even worse that it was on a really busy street and not a single person stopped to help! By the time we got back to our guesthouse we were utterly buggered but the night wasn't over yet... we realised that the security box in the room had been broken into... luckily we had most of our valuables with us and nothing was stolen but it was really unsettling. To drown our sorrows we went out for dinner and had a few drinks at some of the local bars... one in particular was really cool - called 1/2 man 1/2 noodle it had a really good vibe about it.
The next morning we checked out of where we were staying and tried to explain to the manager what had happened in the room. All he could say to justify what had happened was that it was part of the cleaners duty to make sure everything was cleaned through(!?). The hotel is constantly mentioning their status on trip advisor... I look forward to giving them a terrible review cause it topped off a terrible stay in a chaotic city.
That evening we got another overnight bus (12hrs) to Hue, the nations previous capital. The bus was a sleeper, which was far more comfortable than the other transport we have done overnight trips on but we stupidly chose the back seat with 5 beds when the bus was empty... and regretted it when the bus was filled at the next stop!
When we arrived in Hue the next morning we were completely harassed by locals trying to get us to stay at their hotel, it was raining, we were both tired and just not in the mood... I think the local people got quite a few glares and snappy remarks! We finally reached out hotel of choice and it was very basic (for $6 a night) but the family that run it are just gorgeous and were ready to help us with anything we needed. It poured for the entire time that we were in Hue so unfortunately we didnt get to see much, but had a great dinner of local specialties (satay pancakes) and listened to the ever present amazing south east asian tunes of the 1990's that seem to follow us all around the region. I think I've heard the Backstreet Boys more in the last month than I have in my entire life... Bliss.
Today we caught a shorter bus to Hoi An where we are now - the place where people get designer clothes made for small change... I think this is a dangerous place for me to be with spending money!! :-)
