Hoi An is wonderous. At night the bay lights up with little pagodas, boats, and the reflection from the nightlife. A bridge covered in Tet holiday decorations connects us and old town (or ancient town as it is also known). Old town is the draw here. Tiny little shops some still family owned pour into the street. The buildings ancient. Way older than I can even date.
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I’m up at 4:30 today with mr loud rooster. He seems to think its funny to be so loud. I’m not amused. I just sit in bed and read glancing out our amazing window for a view of the river and the local early risers. Our hotel overlooks a little house with a great front porch and balcony. A momma cat and kitten play as we watch. Cats are hilarious.
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People here burn stuff in the street to bring good luck. This happens on every half and full moon. The smell of incense and burning paper is a nice change from normality. Our hotel is nice, cheap hotels try and sell you tours so we have made peace with that. When we arrived they gave us tea and fruit and a map showing us the local attractions.
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Comments Off on Train to Hue
We chug along thud thud thud. We get another sleeper car because lying down is the only way to travel. Small villages and factory’s fly by, mountains light the background. It’s lush here, this is the rainiest area of the country.
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This is one of those places you don’t want to leave. You want to enjoy the true hospitality of your host country. You feel that here, like the whole vietnam embraces you. People come here and don’t leave I understand why.
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We’re up at 7:45 with the mist. We eat and watch the porters pack gear for the big Son Doong Cave expidition. I’m out of it today so I stay in bed. Dawn gives me more medicine than I can remember and my day slides by in fever sweats.
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The butterfly’s are blue and water buffalo are like skittish little dogs.
Everywhere signs of a world that evolved quite different than our own. We assume everything, but something as little as a light switch reminds you Kansas is a world away. Read the rest of this entry »
We landed on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Phong Nha-ke Bang National Park is a beautiful immense moutaneous cave region just a couple hours above HUE.
We took the overnight train to Dong Hoi We stop at the Quang Ly Hostel for coffee banana pancakes and conversation with another traveler. The owner’s husband drives a taxi. Read the rest of this entry »
The overnight train towards Saigon is a journey all its own. We walk from our hotel to the station and arrive early. What we think is some official showing us our car is a tricky trickster. He demands money from us as he puts us in the wrong sleeper car. Gesturing at his ID card. Eventually we pay the guy about 2 dollars so he will leave. We’re not used to this trickery and we have made peace with the small little scams that are everywhere. Our sleeper car sleeps 6. It’s full when we leave and nobody but dawn and I speak English.
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We walked past the lady selling egg sandwiches on the corner just about everyday. Today we stopped and now I know where to get the best egg sandwich / banh mi anywhere. The last day anywhere is a mixture of excitement to see more and sadness that we are leaving.
We ate lunch at another place passed daily on our way somewhere less impressive. It takes spending a couple days in a place to see what’s right under your nose. Amazing pho, and some other beef noodle bowl of goodness was ours for the taking. We walked to the park ate mangos, watched children play, and brides take photos. We chatted with a man on the sidewalk about where we were from and where he lived before hanoi. People are social here.
The preparations for the tet are in full force. Every park is being planted with bright flowers. The public spaces are being lit festively. Signs are going up structures built and people seem generally excited. Read the rest of this entry »
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