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Halong Bay
We took a trip to Halong Bay which was amazing, but slightly disorganised. Everyone on the boat paid a different price so it pays to shop around for a few hours. We got a bargain compared to a French group. The boat needed a paint job but it wasn't too bad. Food was included but drinks were not. It soon adds up for a beer. It's too hot to sneak your own beer onboard, no where to chill it. We were taken to an amazing cave and to a floating village (they were there before tourism and pay tax!) strange to see dogs & cats living on the floating villages too. We paid 100,000dong to a toothless local woman who took us in her boat to see a grotto which is normally covered with water but the tide was out (lucky us- I bet they say this to all the tourists to get them to part with more money!) We were taken into 2 grottos, really nice.
We slept on the boat for 1 night and Teej needed to go to bed early, especially when the pumping Eurotrash music came on (the same song on repeat). We saved money by not buying the drinks!
Hue
After the Halong Bay boat trip we had a sleeper train to Hue to catch which we bought from an agent at the airport and paid an extra 12usd for this. We should have waited until we got to Hanoi central and shopped around but the tourist information section at the airport (which was really a private company, nothing to do with the government) told us the trains were full. Got to the train station and made the mistake of going to the Vietnamese McDonalds (called Lotteria) and ordered a marinated chicken burger. It was horrendous, not sure which part of the chicken it came from but it had a massive piece of fat on it! Teej loaded hers up with chilli sauce (not the wisest move before getting a 14hr train and sharing a bunk bed dorm cabin) Should have stuck to the rice and noodle dishes that we are starting to get a little bored of! Got some Danny La Rue beers for the journey and we were pleasantly surprised at the living quarters. Met our roomies Mark and Miriam from Australia and had a few beers and vodkas. Slept well!
Didn't have a hotel booked when we arrived at Hue train station but there are loads of touts outside with taxis and hotel brochures trying to bundle you off. We were a bit unsure at first, not used to this heavy handed marketing tactic but we saw loads of others doing it so copied them. Turned out fine, got a room and haggled them down on the price by pretending we were with this other couple who we shared the taxi with. We were in a hotel that funnily enough was in Lonely Planet. 14usd a night and opposite a cute cafe called Cafe on Thu Wheels which played good music and was pretty chilled. The owner’s children were a bit obsessed with Angry Birds and Teej had to wrestle her phone back off them! We bought our next train ticket to Hoi An from Thu for only 2USD for a three hr journey. Bargain.
Hue is a place to hire a bike rather than walk; there are so many things to see here. The Citadel we walked to on our first day - about 55,000 dong to get in (over 1gbp) but worth it as it is a heritage site. More info here: http://www.vietnamtourism.com/hue/e_pages/kth_kinhthanh.htm
We hired a bike from the hotel for 1usd- the bikes are pretty much the same everywhere-ladies bikes with a basket but no gears. Cycled to see the tombs of Tu Dac. On the way we found a cute little cafe on stilts over a lotus flower pond. Teej decided to order food here and we watched as they pulled this cage out of the swamp water. Russ wasn't particularly keen. When it came it tasted lovely. Had an egg fried rice (which contained pork and shrimp). Very peaceful except for a group of young Vietnamese getting hammered on the next table. The resident cat was chasing a dragonfly and got overexcited and did a back flip. We wouldn't have found this place if we had booked onto a tour. Quite exciting having the freedom. Got to the tomb and spent about 2hrs walking round, there are other tombs to see but once you've seen one tomb you've seen them all. We are starting to pine for the beach and relaxation now as it's pretty full on in Hue, not as much as Hanoi but still, the sales guys are onto you constantly. Hoorah for Hue!
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