Vietnam: Hue and Hoi An

We arrived in Hue about mid morning and proceeded to check into the Hue branch of the Backpacker's Hostel. We ended up sleeping on a double bed that was a bunk bed. Kinda different haha but it was good. There was hot water and free breakfast. After we settled in we headed towards the old city. The old city is surrounded by a wall and moat. Inside the old palace is pretty much in ruins. There were still a few standing structures but for the most part the bombing during the wars had ruined much of architecture. Hue is the capital of the central province in Vietnam, which is why there is a palace there... I think.

The Dragon is the symbol for Royalty, all the buildings in the Royal Palace are decorated with them

After making our way through the Forbidden Purple city and out towards the back exit, we saw a random working going for a stroll with his elephant around the royal grounds.

After seeing the Old City we found a local place to eat and walked through a few markets. There was a famous Pagoda (temple) about 4 km from the city so we decided to take a bike taxi. Unfortunately for the little Vietnamese man driving the taxi, Rachelle and I are not the lightest girls ever to get into his cab... needless to say the man struggled a bit getting to and from the pagoda. It took about 45 minutes one way.

Monks were chanting in worship in the background

The Pagoda was the residence of the monk who traveled to Saigon during the Vietnam war in protest of the South Vietnamese Government's repressions of religion and publicly burned himself to death. They had his car he drove on display.

Where the Monks work out haha

After an exhausting day of walking we went to the hostel for an hour of FREE BEER! then to a nice French restaurant and had a bottle of wine and duck for dinner. With the exhaustion and food and alcohol it turned out to be an early night.

The next day we took a bus to Hoi Ann. The bus ride is supposed to be a scenic one but it poured rain the whole time. We could tell we were traveling through mountains and then along the coast but we couldn't see much. However, the bus we took was another sleeper bus, even though it was only a 4 hour ride, and it was much much nicer than our last experience with sleeper buses. Too bad we didn't get this one when we had a 10 hour ride.

In Hoi An we ran into some other backpackers we had seen in Hue and went to dinner and tried the local specials: Cao Lao (a noodle and pork dish) and White Rose (steamed shrimp wrapped in rice paper). Hoi An is also known for its tailor shops. In this tiny little town there are now over 200 tailoring shops. You just go in and tell them what you want, pick a material, come back for a fitting (or two) and there you have it... hand made clothes. I ended up with a silk dress and some shorts for pretty cheap. It was a cool experience.

This is where I got my silk dress made

In Hoi An there is also an old city with some Pagodas and cool architecture. We saw the Japanese Bridge which was built to connect the Japanese and Chinese communities across the canal, however legend has it that there was once a monster named Cu who had it's head in India, its tail in Japan, and its body in Vietnam. Whenever the monster moved terrible disasters like floods and earthquakes would occur in Vietnam. The bridge was built on the monster's weakest point and killed it. There is now a temple in remembrance of the monster on the north side of the bridge.

The river in Hoi An

The market in Hoi An- apparently people in this country are much shorter than in the US

Japanese Bridge

The altar to the monster Cu

The market had literally anything you could think of

Finally we took a bus back to Danang to fly down to Southern Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh city. On the way to the airport we drove along the coast line where hotel upon resort upon hotel were being built. Villas and condos and large resorts and golf resorts will soon fill up the area surrounding Hoi An. This small town will look a lot different in a few years.
Anyways... on to warmer climates!!!

Goodbye Hoi An!