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Hoi An & Hue
After a day train that seemed to last much longer than the actual 14 hours, we finally arrived in Hoi An. Deemed strategically important by the US during the war, Hoi An lost about 60% of it's old town. What is left has been beautifully restored and is now recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The old town is adorned with lanterns and is full of traditional buildings that now accommodate beautiful boutique shops and ornate restaurants and bars. The place couldn't be more picturesque if it tried and you can't fail to take good snaps.
Hoi An is well known for its bespoke tailoring and it would have been remiss of us to pass up the opportunity to get suited and booted. Two fittings later and I had a made to measure suit and shirts and Isobel had two dresses - we did well to limit it to that as you could spend a fortune very quickly!
This is by far the most affluent town in Vietnam; the restaurants and boutique shops wouldn't be out of place in any chic city in the world. With this in mind I decided to get my hair cut as two months in it was going a bit 'Bobby Ewing'. Our guide recommended a place that he'd used and his hair didn't look too bad… I sat down and before I'd said anything he started cutting. Frantically scrambling for my phone to show him a picture of my previous length of hair he was already in full motion, his hands a blur above my rapidly decreasing bouffant. "Just a trim off the sides and back" but he just nodded and carried on. By the end I had a very communist linear look (it may well catch on if Beckham gets one). Isobel has tried to make it a bit less Lego man but I'm sure by the time I get home it will be back to normal!
Hoi An was the perfect antidote to the frenetic week that had passed our next pit stop was Hue, pronounced Hoy.
Hue was once the capital of Vietnam for several centuries before Hanoi claimed the current title. It's New Year's Eve here so it was a strange kind of atmosphere; a mix of unusually quiet roads and people getting ready for the new year which entails cleaning your house, your shop, your moped. It also means clearing all debts or else you'll have bad luck for the year ahead. We were only here for a full day so I took the opportunity to go on a moped tour of the city and countryside. Isobel passed, as hanging off the back of a moped is not her idea of fun!
The trip was a mix of fun, excitement, stunning views, a lunch stop at a monastery and some crazy driving on the road, side streets and across a bridge walkway that must have been 3 feet wide at most. If the next Bond film is looking for a new bike chase scene location, this is it - the aforementioned bridge walkway, side streets with burning dustbins, chickens, old ladies, kids peeing and lots and lots of weaving in and out of other bikes and cars. I wish I could have filmed it on my phone, but I didn't have the kahunas to hold on one handed.
The evening brought not only the New Year in, but also two birthdays in our group. We had a ball and some of the group stayed out to 4 am (you can guess who). We're now off to Hanoi on another 14-hour night train - the perfect cure for a hangover….not!
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