Hoi An

Hoi An is renowned for its tailored clothing.There are 400-500 tailors in the town.
Of course I had to check it out having been in the business.
Everyone wants your business so it is very hard to walk down the streets without being 'manouvered' into a shop to see what they can make for you!
I enjoyed the experience of being measured and fitted and having a garment made to measure,at a very reasonable price.A great treat.
We also couldn't resist having a pair of shoes made.I had to go off on the back of a motor cycle to source materials.

Hoi An

The next leg of the journey Hue to Hoi An was very straight forward.An air conditioned bus picked us up from our hotel at 8.00am and at 1.30 pm we were deposited at the Hoi An bus station.The drive was through beautiful countryside with mountains on one side and the sea on the other through a 6.5 km tunnel to Darnang with some anazing bridges.We sat next to a Vietnamese biologist who gave us a very interesting running commentary.
We were surprised to find Hoi An very busy and all hotel tarrifs double and many hotels booked out.After quite a bit of leg work we found a very nice hotel with a swimming pool at a reasonable price so booked 4nights.
We were told that Hoi An was at the start of a four day annual festival.We were so lucky to be able to be a part of it.

Observations.South Vietnam

It is hard to believe that this area just south of the DMZ ( Demilitarised Zone )was so terribly devistated by war forty years plus ago.
We passed many military cemetaries on the train, now becoming over grown.
The south Vietnamese are bright and friendly and have a great sence of humour.
They seem to be just getting on with it!
They all work very long days usually 12 1/2 hours a day with one day off a month.
Grandmothers bring up the babies while the mothers work.
Building sites have equal male and female doing the same manual work.

Hanoi to Hue

We spent another couple of days in Hanoi! exploring in the heat and taking refuge in any shop,cafe that had airconditioning.
We had a very special Vietnamese meal which changed my mind on Vietnamese food. Really different flavours,staff were very attentive and showed us how to construct and eat.
After purchasing a rail ticket (with considerable difficulty) to Hue.We caught the 11.00pm night train.All sleepers were booked out for days so we had upright slightly reclining seats for our 14 hour journey.Surprisingly we actually had a good sleep and were awake at dawn to watch the countryside and towns go by.
We arrived in Hue about 1.00pm and with our usual arrival routine we found a very plesant hotel for two nights.We went out to explore the sights and were caught in a torrential down pour which lasted for hours.Thank goodness we had our trusty unbrellas with us and sloshed through the streets.
Next day we went on a Dragon boat up the Perfume river on a tour with an English speaking guide.We were picked up by motor bike and delivered to the boat at 8.00am a very interesting history filled day,including how to make incense sticks.We returned at 5.00pm exhausted with the heat.We had a little lie down to recover and woke at 6.00am next morning!

Ha Long Bay

Saturday morning up bright and early as we were changing hotels (a good brisk walk at 6.50am.)Breakfast, then at 8.00am we were collected and taken to a bus for our Ha Long Bay experience!
We had booked to stay two nights and three days.
Unfortunatelly the whole operation has become a processing factory(of humans) people and Junks as far as the eye could see.
About 24 of us boarded the Dragon Pearl.(It didn't look anything like the glossy brochure!)
We were served lunch then off we chugged to our first stop the Monkey cave, then on again to do one hour Kyaking.The islands were stunning over 2000 of them.
We dropped anchor for the night off Cat Ba Island.We had a wonderful swim from the junk.Warm water.Then watched the sun set.
After dinner we sat out in the cool and chatted.
We woke to rain but off we went to the island to walk in the National park and climb up one of the hills.It was misty so looked amazing from the top.
We had booked to stay one night on an island in a bungalow with its own beach.Sounded too good to be true and it was!
We arrived at the island to be shown a grass hut with no fly screens, not what we had booked and paid for.Apparrently this happens a lot.A bit of a scam!We returned to Cat Ba and a hotel having negotiated a small refund.
Day three we spent returning to Ha Long Bay with many disgruntled travellers with their own tales to tell.
I still wouldn't have missed the experience.

SaPa to Hanoi

The next day we explored the township of SaPa.There are hundreds of hotels and eating places.
The local hill tribe people are all about in their traditional dress which the wear every day.
At 5.00pm we boarded yet another bus for Lao Cai( very close to the Chinese boarder) where we bought a ticket for the night train to Hanoi.We had an hour to spare so with our bags in tow we had a look round bought some fruit and boarded the train at 7.30 pm.
It was a very lively night with lots of commings and goings until 4.30am when the train stopped abruptly and it was everyone out! We were in Hanoi.
We had not booked a hotel so out came the torch and the Lonely Planet.One taxi ride and an dissagreement over the charge we were making our way down an alleyway hoping we would find a hotel.Eventually at 5.00am a hotel opened so we booked a room had a much needed shower and a short sleep.
At 9.00am we were out to see Hanoi a very different place to the sleeping city at 4.30am.
Noise dust people Cars bikes motor bikes all honking.Complete chaos.
It took us a couple of hours to adjust.
Crossing the roads you just walk at the pace of the locals and you are OK.Just keep cool.
The food is much the same we are missing the Thai food full of flavour.
We walked for 9hours exploring .We found the old Hoa Lo prison now a museum.(The Hanoi Hilton where the US pilots were kept during the Vietnam war.)
In the evening we went to the night market.
I think it is even bussier at night than during the day.The footpaths are seathing with people cooking and eating.The roads are still crammed with motor bikes carrying whole families weaving slowly through the pedestrians the driver using a cell phone!
We always seem to get a room on the 5th floor!