Day 36-40 Central Vietnam

Hue

We got an over night bus to Hue (pronounced Hway).

For our travel, we paid around £26 for a hop on, hop off bus, with a company called Camel Travel. 

The bus takes you from Hanoi - Ninh Binh - Hue - Hoi An - Nha Trang - Mui Ne - Ho Chi Minh City.. and you just book on a day or two before you want to leave. 

The buses vary a lot though. Some are okay-ish and some are awful. The drivers often pick up, drop off, or stash mysterious packages on there too, which is pretty odd.

We were only in Hue for one whole day so we wanted to make it count.

We found okay-ish accomodation and places to eat on our street.

Through this lovely cafe, called Thu Wheels, we booked a taxi trip to three of the best places to see in such a short space of time.

First, we stopped off at Tu Duc Tomb.

It was full of tombs and all of the writing was in Vietnamese, so we kind of just fired guesses at which Tu Duc was. Or if Tu Duc was the whole complex. Either way, it was great!

We met some lovely school kids, who just wanted to come and say hi and take pictures of Izzy because she's blonde!

The kids everywhere are lovely but we noticed in Vietnam they are particularly friendly :)

Next we went to Thien Mu Pagoda.

We saw these birds in this tiny cage and were in two minds about what to do. The woman was selling 1 birds for 10,000 dong (about 29p) to set free.

Marie and Jack set two free but we didn't know if it was worse to leave them or to pay the wage that allows her to keep on doing that, when they should be free in the first place.

It was nice to watch them fly away though.

We went to the Citadel next, which was huge and impossible to find our way out of again!

We ate at a recommended place down the road, called Nina's cafe.

Then headed to Hue Backpackers hostel for happy hour and some infamous (and classy) 'Passion Fruit Leg Opener' cocktails.

The next day we were off on another glorious bus to Hoi An.

We had to wait quite a while for the drivers to put three very large packages on the bus.

The police turned up but didn't seem to do much.

After what seemed like quite a long wait, we were allowed on and the police left. 

Of course the parcels took priority over our luggage, so we had to just keep our rucksacks with us.

The guy above me dropped his boxers, phone and blanket on me.

And I had this guys crotch in my face for four hours...

.. but Izzy just looked like she was having a great time with her new friends at the back.

They had to climb over her to get to their bed so at least they'd bonded slightly.

Hoi An

We LOVED this place!

One crazy thing about travelling, is that wherever we go, we bump into everyone we've met because they're doing the same route too.

As soon as we got there, Grace (who was on the slow boat trip and in laos with us) happened to just walk around the corner..

Then we bumped into Ben and Elena down the road after their bike journey from Hue.

As we were walking out we realised the boy who dropped his boxers on me on the bus and his girlfriend were staying in our homestay too.

Once we'd sat down to eat, Charlie (who was in our room at Hanoi) came in with some friends.

Then we walked down the road and saw Xochizl and some guys who were also on our slow boat trip and everywhere we've been.

Then at the bar, we saw Pandora, Leeham and Emma - who were ALSO on the slow boat trip.

It's CRAZY! You literally have friends everywhere.

Anyway...

The ancient town in Hoi An is gorgeous at night, you cross over the lit up river where people put candle lanterns and there are quite a lot of bars (and even more drink offers).

On our first night, we stayed up until 5am to watch the Manchester derby with some locals..

By the time we got back, our homestay was locked, so we had to climb over the fence.

Jack made it look easy... but I got stuck on the top and I had to climb back down. Then two locals ran over with a table and pointed to a lower part of the fence.

They put it against the fence for me and I still managed to get stuck at the top of that too.

But eventually we got in!

Our hotel the next day (Sunflower) was where a lot of backpackers were staying so that was pretty crazy and more expensive (about £5+ but that's expensive in backpacker world). We were sold on the unlimited breakfast buffet though!

In Hoi An, practically everyone cycles or drives a motorbike, so our three days were mostly spent cycling around the ancient town and to the beach. It's just 20,000 Dong a day for a bike, which is around 60p.

There are two beaches. We went to An Bang, which is further away but quieter and prettier. It was beautiful! 

           

I got a suit tailor made for £30 and Marie and me got some lovely trousers made too.

We stopped by the tailors in the morning and when we returned after a few hours on the beach, they were already ready for us to try. We had to go back a couple of times for fittings but they were so fast it was amazing! 

The lady working in the shop where I got my suit made said it's the brightest suit she's ever made and wanted to take lots of pictures. 

The pictures don't really do them justice, we were so pleased with them!

We met up with Ben, Elena and Grace for the second night.

We spent quite a bit of time with Pandora, Leeham and Emma there as well, which was fun!  

We spent our final day cycling, sunbathing amd eating beautiful scallops. Then after a little squabble between Marie and bike rental man about a missing key, we were on our way again.

I'd be surprised if someone said they didn't like Hoi An. For us, we agreed that it's somewhere that you could definitely go back to for a holiday.

Next stops.. Nha Trang and Mui Ne!