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Hue - We spent the day in Hanoi when we arrived back from Sapa, again arriving early morning since we caught the night train. We went to see a temple in the middle of one of Hanoi's lakes and then ran some errands, brought a photocopy of the lonely planet to Australia, posted some postcards, etc. That evening we were to catch our third night train from Hanoi to Hue, once known as the religious capital of Vietnam.
The night train down was pretty much event free, except we were on the train much longer than we expected, thought we were arriving at 8:30am but in fact it was more like 10:30am. We were feeling quite tired and rough at this time since 3 of our last 5 sleeps had been on trains. When boarding the train in Hanoi a gentleman asked if we would like to stay at his hotel in Hue, no obligations, if we didn't like it we didn't have to stay or pay anything but we would get a free ride from the train station. Due to this when we arrived in Hue there was a lad holding a piece of cardboard with my name wrote across it. So glad to see him, we were not in the mood to be searching for taxis/tuk tuks and hotels. Hotel was great!
Once settled we heading for Hue's Citadel, once a big imperial city now just around 13 ancient buildings and a lot of archaeological activity. We had about a 15-20 minute walk there and just as we were arriving at the main entrance the hevans decided to open. We had not brought our ponchos with us so we had to buy others. There was no other option, we had only 2 nights in Hue and we wanted to make sure we saw what was inside. After roaming around for about 2-3 hours we headed to the night market to get some food and maybe the odd souvenir. That evening we booked a day trip on a bus and boat to see some more temples, tombs and pagodas.
The following morning we had a hotel pick up to take us to the boat for our tour, what we had assumed was we would be picked up by a bus; in fact what we did was follow a young Vietnamese girl on foot through town to the boat dock. The trip was called the perfume river tour. The highlight of the morning locations was the Thien Mu Pagoda. It was not only a beautiful sight but it was also linked to a famous moment in Vietnamese history. The monk, who set himself alight and burned to death in the middle of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in protest to the Vietnam war, was a member of this pagoda. Located here was his car, which is in the famous photo of him on fire. Some people will recognise the photo as the front cover of a Rage Against The Machine album cover. After lunch on the boat we set off to see some tombs of previous kings. The Khai Dinh tomb was the most impressive, built into the mountain side it's architecture really made it stand out as well as its enormous size.
That evening we went for food recommended by our tour guide we had during the day. It was simply where lots of locals would gather to eat, sat on little plastic chairs on the street. Once we had decided which to sit at we took our seats and were straight away served a warm beer each and a small plate of eggs. The eggs were still in their shells. They were about half the size of a chicken's egg and were white with black specks. It turned out they were in fact fertilised duck eggs, like the sort Gordon Ramsey ate on his show if any of you saw that. With much apprehension I tried one. Although quite messy they were in fact delicious, tasted much like a normal egg yolk. After leading the way Zo also tried them, I think she ended up eating more of them than me. After we couldn't eat anymore a small begging child came to our table pointing at the food, we told him to help himself. He did this until he was moved on by one of the lads that work there. We had planned to leave early since we had an early start the next day to catch a bus but again the rain come so we took shelter while drinking more beer, by now we had a big bowl of ice to keep them cool!
Hoi An - It was only a 4 hour bus journey to Hoi An, bus journeys like this seem to be no problem at all considering some we have been on. Once in Hoi An we dropped our stuff off and headed into the town. We noticed 2 things when we first entered the town. 1, it was such a beautiful place, quiet, small streets, not much traffic and with Japanese/French architecture with a rustic look you imagine Vietnam to look. 2, there was no way we would be getting out within budget. So many shops selling so many gorgeous things, from knick knacks to exquisite hand crafted creations and cheap t-shirts to tailor made suits. Before we knew it we had brought t-shirts, more presents and had been measured for some clothing, Zo a pair of jeans and a wool coat, me a light weight pair of trousers. Hoi An was the place I had my first ever cut throat shave. I had only gone in to have my head shaved but the barber offered and I did need one. This also include an ear clean…weird. All this done on the side of the street. The evening was spent dining on food Hoi An is famous for. At a restaurant called The Mermaid' we ate white rose (shrimp encased in rice paper and steamed) as a starter and then both had tuna steak. Zo's done with spices and a mango sauce, mine with a caramel sauce. After trying both Zo had made the best choice out of the 2 of us.
The second day was first spent being fitted for our clothes and then heading to a shoe tailor where Zo had been measured for a pair of sandels. Throughout the day we looked through a few museums and old houses. There are many places to visit in Hoi An, but you can buy a ticket which entitles you to visit 6 places, you choose which to visit. We grabbed some tea before heading back to thehotel ready for the night bus to Nah Trang. Again we had hotel pick up but this involved following someone on foot to the bus. The sleeping bus was a little cramped but better than a normal bus as I could just about lie out straight. We played a few cards with Slava and Karina (Israeli couple we met) until we stopped to pick up some locals who set up places to sleep in the aisle, card game over!
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