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Bit behind at the moment so sorry for that, I've been a bit lazy.
Since we left Nha Trang we took a very rickety 13 hour overnight bus northbound to Hoi An. After arriving we walked from the outskirts into the centre of Hoi An and dumped our bags on the pavement whilst Adds and Ian went off in search of accommodation. We ended up with a nice small double room with all the trimmigs for $12. Hoi An is a beautiful little town mainly run by tourism. There is a seperate section of the town called the Old Town which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO with stunning old colonial buildings. The town attracts a fair amount of backpackers along with a huge contingent of American retirees. Most people visit Hoi An for the hundreds of tailors around town who will make whatever your want for pretty cheap prices and it's made to measure in one day then shipped home. Pretty cool, we didn't buy anything though all in the name of living on a budget. The place has a large river whose banks are lined with bars and restaurants, at night it looks pretty spectacular with lots of colourful lanterns and fairy lights. There is a famous Japanese covered bridge which leads to the Old Town and is very pretty and quaint. We visited it on a day of wandering the area. There are a few local speciality dishes that we tried like the famous White Rose (a shrimp dumpling made from translucent white dough shaped as a rose) and Cau Lau (a rice vermicelli) amongst others which we followed down with a few pints of the local made 'fresh beer', a snip at just 4,000 dong (11 pence) per drink!!!! On our second day we woke up early and made our way to the local market where we purchased a bag of duck feed and 3 small cute ducklings to keep as pets (as you do). Adds and mine was named Chicken, Cat and Sams was Christopher Peking Duck (Chrispy Duck) and a Scottish couple we're now travelling with too (Linzi and Darren) named theirs Carlos Santana....Ian wanted nothing to do with them ha ha. After a couple of days in the small town we ran out of things to do so booked the next bus north to Hue.
This bus was just a 4 hour jobbie and the journey took us through the beautiful central highlands where we witnessed some incredibly stunning views of misty mountain tops. The weather was cool and drizzly when we arrived so we hurried aroud trying to find somewhere nice for us and the ducklings. We ended up with a hotel room with two double beds and shared with Cat and Sam which saved us some cash.
Hue was the national capital until 1945, when a communist government was established in Hanoi in the north. Hue is well known for its historic monuments, which have earned it a place in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites the same as Hoi An. The main attraction is the late Nguyen emperors Citadel, it occupies a large, walled area on the north side of the Perfume River. Inside the citadel there is what used to be called the forbidden city where only the emperors, concubines and eunoch's (so they couldnt perform any naughtiness with the ladies) were allowed to enter. Not much of the forbidden city remains now and it's pretty crumbly, however still very pretty. We all hired bycicles and cycled round the citadels for the day stopping off for a local beer along the banks of the Perfume River (I have no clue why they named it this as I can only describe the aroma as Eau De Sewage).
The original plan was to catch a train with the ducklings to Hanoi then pass them onto some other backpackers who could take them back south....however, I think me and Cat have caught bird flu from them and the amount of s*** the little b*****s produce is insane. On our last day in Hue we handed them over to the next door restaurant (to keep as pets obviously...!). The train was mega expensive so we chose a middle option and splashed out on a mega cool night bus with leather chairs that reclined into proper beds complete with loads of leg room (for most of us anyway), pillows, blankets, reading lights and free water. The journey was 15 hours and passed in a flash and I woke up as fresh as a daisy in Hanoi.
That was yesterday, we arrived about 8am and for once had pre-booked some accommodation (Hanoi Backpackers 2). It's the BEST hostel in Asia with double bedded bunk beds, fluffy quilts, free internet, themed nights, tv room, pool table, free breakfast and amazing food!!!! It reminds us of Loki in a lot of ways and we're all excited to be in dorms again instead of scabby hotel rooms. All in all it's great, we're now chilling in the tv room with a bunch of other backpackers....obviously we would be at the museums today had there not been a thunderstorm outside....I promise.
We have 4 weeks left on our Vietnamese visa so we are planning a 3 day Halong Bay junk boat cruise, a journey up to the Chinese border town Sapa to do a 2 day trek in the highlands and maybe a farmhouse homestay. Another possibility is the Snake Village where you eat lots of snake dishes, eat a pumping snake heart, drink it's warm blood in a shot and drink snake wine, not sure about that one yet though!
That's our news to date, speak soon.
Love to you all especially Mum, Dad, Rich, Grandma, Mummy Devli, Sara and Ava
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- comments
mummy devli Thanks for this very informative read,,,, I'm so afraid dear old sheffiled will be deeply boring for youse... no baby ducklings here for pets... i'll just delete the last paragraph about the snake hting, if you don't mind ... yeuch!!! Hope to talk soon for Adds Birthday... xxxxxxxxxxxxx
momma m Still missing you.....seems to come in peaks and troughs................mixed emotions.Happy that you are happy but missing you because you are not there to hug /laugh and cry with.I guess that you will have changed in lots of ways .................all for the better I am sure.Take care and enjoy the last few months xxxxxxxxxxx