Luang Prabang

After an hour on a boat we arrive in some dusty village that brings civilisation and reality terrifyingly near. A bar with loud noise. Vehicles on streets. The peace and serenity we have been living is once again but a dream.

We had about 4 hours in the back of a took-took to forget about our prior bliss, and settle in on a bumpy winding tour.

The first small city, or large town, in Laos we encounter is Luang Prabang. Fortunately, having only a small percentage of the population Vietnam has, the streets are relatively peaceful. Little took-tooks send the tourists peacefully on their way. Buddhists rouse the city to the beat of their drums at 6:30 each day. Markets and stalls selling coffees, fruit drinks and meals don the streets and alleys. Night markets take over the street completely, each of the hundred stalls selling the same goods, their occasional temporary power lines are strung at perfect decapitation height. Restaurants line the Mekong. It's understandable why there are so many tourists here.

As per usual, we have already met up with many of the troupe we first met on day one in Laos.

We settle in to semi-respectable accommodation before spending our time wandering around the attractions. We reached the end of the peninsula, and turn back at a pay bridge. We climbed Fussy (sp?) hill to see the Buddhist thing at the top. We went to the museum, but were deterred by the price - looking at anything here costs - and instead settled on walking around the grounds, stopping to observe the old king's rather lame car collection. We finished by viewing the sights from their gates without entering, as you get a pretty good idea what it's like from afar, and once you've seen one temple you've kinda seen them all.

We spent a day hiring bikes to go and check out a waterfall, a bear sanctuary and ride elephants. The waterfall was beautiful. The bears were cute. The elephants were cool. Craig, as a result of the pay-silly-amounts-to-do-anything and gifting 50.000 kip to the bear sanctuary, sadly could not afford to join us on these magnificent beasts. The elephant tour involved a short meander along a path then in to a pond for a bath. All good fun. I named mine Horton.

This was the day I saw two children under three playing with a meat clever as a toy. I could see it was sharp because they were good at chopping things. I am baffled that any parent could think this was a good idea.

We had two superb street dinners here where we filled our own plates, and payed under a couple a bucks each. Mine was a food tower both nights of course.

The greatest meal (then drinks following) was at Utopia. An over manicured landscaped bar that forces you to walk across rocks and under trees to reach a table. We were nestled on a balcony, lounging on bean bagy sorts of things, perched next to a 30 foot drop. The handrail was non existent and flaming lamps were everywhere, a sight that would give Osh (nz's health and safety executive) some serious heart palpitations. To make this even more special there was NZ dub music in the background. Being a special occasion (Christmas Eve) this place was open til 1 and had a large bonfire roaring on the beachy sports arena (yes, this place, this utopia, had everything). I had the nicest burger I have had since Staten Island, August 2011. This one was the most amazingly fresh, melt in your mouth paddy and smothered in wasabi mayonnaise. A-mazing. This was finished off with Giant Jenga next to the fire with Tom and Anna til the wee hours. Great fun.

Christmas day rolled around and, after an all too brief conversation with back home, we were off to the bus station and then a six hour bus to Vang Vien. An early start, too little sleep, no breakfast, taking my bus-sick prevention pills too late, and the windiest roads ever combined to make for one unpleasant journey. That is to say I spent my Christmas making 7 presents for Craig. Still, this was Christmas, and even that small blip did nothing to stem the evening feast and celebrations. The bus ride, despite it's obvious unpleasantness, was worth it. The journey winding through the hills was just breathtaking. The silhouettes of far away mountain ranges, the road winding along cliffs. Beautiful fauna growing in dazzling colours across the hills. And a dozen stalls miles from anywhere all lined up selling oranges. A phenomenal drive which I would happily repeat.

Christmas! An orphan's Christmas. Christmas dinner comprised of a nice sit down (on cushions) meal and a nice yellow chicken curry for me. We were subjected to two of our compatriots' high decibel ramblings, including spouting that there were four million people in Christchurch. While mostly entertaining, any shred of serenity to be found here was utterly destroyed. Still, a fun evening was had.

And that was Luang Prabang and the first glimpse of Vang Vien.

I'll aim to upload the photos that go with this post tomorrow or the day after.

Muang Ngoi Neua, village II

Muang Ngoi Neua aka Ban Ngoi Kao was the second village we hit on our trip down the river.

The last village was called Muang Khua, for the record.

So, we float up to the village like any other. The trip had been a few hours, and included me being told off by a caustic German tourist for, I was told, taking photos with my limbs positioned on the outside of the boat. I apologised profusely, then redoubled my filming efforts in much the same manner as before. Flabbergasted she spent the remainder of the trip complaining to my friends about my limbs and occasionally glaring down her camera lens in my general direction.

I had to chukle as I cast my mind back to this years royal wedding. Despite rising early I could manage 6th row at best to view the procession. Being tall this didn't bother me in the least. That is until there was anything to see, at which point ten thousand cameras shot up directly in my line of sight, completely obscuring any view I previously had. I can only imagine how my favourite German would have reacted to such insolence. Perhaps by beating the offending crowds down and then requesting the royals perform a second drive past. And a bit slower too, if you don't mind.

So, the boat arrives and we promptly split to locate lodgings. Beachy shacks are dotted around the place, all near the three awesome restaurants/bars which line the waterfront. And we soon retire to lunch at one of these, enjoying cool Bia Laos and watching the sun sinking slowly over the mountains. The water lapping below the bar, with the occasional boat shooting off to the sunset, enjoying a small unspoiled haven in an otherwise hectic corner of the globe.

This place is so unspoiled in so many ways. Electricity is available for three hours each day. The lodgings are bamboo and walls are weaved. Waiters trustingly ask you what you ordered then calculate the bill from your recount. Monks rise at 6am to gather food offerings. Bread is baked weekly. Markets are every ten days. Roosters nestle in every nook and cranny, rousing you with cries of oo-o-ooo-oo-oooo throughout the night (I loathe to write cock-a-doodle-doo because it doesn't really sound like that and whoever made that up was just being silly.) There is nothing but shacks along one dirt road with food stalls and dogs and shiny happy people laughing.

Our adventures were few but significant, in between hours of eating, drinking, and socialising with the group (which increased beyond size 13 on one or two occasions).

The first thing you notice from the village is a steep mountain towering over you. So the decision was made to climb the thing. After an hour of unsuccessful false starts we returned to the village in search of a guide. We found and hired 'The Teacher', whose confidence at tackling this little hill inspired me to harden up. We set out with Teacher plus Hunter towards the starting track and it wasn't long before Teacher was gasping for air and asking for a rest. We stopped a few times for his convenience and to be repeatedly asked whether we were sure we wanted to carry on despite the dangers ahead. "I'm not worried about me, it is you that I am worried about" was Teacher's mantra. Pushing on he confided in us: "I am very unfit as I have not done this in three years". And then later on still, after a fit of hysterical laughter, he exclaimed that he had never been this high up the mountain before. Ever. The confidence he had displayed earlier in the day still stuns me. Perhaps he truly expected us to balk. Straddling cliffs, scaling trees, sliding along waterfalls of dirt, we eventually stumble out at the top. We were greeted with an amazing view over all the lands around.

Ecstatic, Teacher exclaims "I should build a concrete platform here." We turned on him in unison.

Once lunch was completely devoured we began the down climb, hindered slightly by Craig's barely recovered MCL. Teacher's earlier cries of concern over our safety were clearly redundant as he was the only liability present. On two occasions he bumped in to me whilst I was precariously balancing my mass down the hill, warning me of his instability. A warning well deserved as he soon tumbled completely and righted himself by grabbing on to my backpack, knocking me considerably off balance also. Less than amused I regularly informed him to clear off whenever hand holds became too sparse.

The climb was amazing. About 4.5 hours in total, and well worth the sweat and aching limbs. Teacher looked equally ecstatic to have reached ground level again, bless him.

Our reward for the march was one of the tastiest Indian meals I can recall. Delicious curries (only chicken) were all winners.

The last day was spent walking through three different caves, the best of which was located en route to a nearby village. We stumbled, crawled, clambered our way through dark ravines with 30 ft drops off in to nothingness. The gentle trickle of an underwater stream being the only noise. Rest easy Mum & Dad; I, as per usual, took no risks, and abstained from progressing on two occasions.

The village we finally reached on foot was cool. The lead in was over waterless, sun crusted paddies. Cows grazing. The village was small. Dusty. Full of dogs and happy kids laughing. And roosters. And more dust. We turned and marched back the hour or so to a pub, where we were met by everyone, as per usual. We spent the evening drinking and laughing under the bright night stars before hunger led us to dinner. Indian again. Superb. Leaving a town has never been so hard.

First Laos Village

There is a time machine fitted in the Laos border. Around the entire perimeter. Flux capacitor and all.

Arriving in Laos, in (need to look up town's name???), by the northern Vietnam crossing, is stepping in to a whole other world. One of towering mountains and meandering rivers. With the dusty potholed roads carved in to cliffs and crossing quaint streams.

The two day bus journey finally ends and we all disembark with our newfound acquaintances at a river crossing. Now this crossing really was one of my favourites as there was an old rusty barge used to transport cars and locals from one side to the other. To propel this an even older and rustler boat would, engines blaring, water flying, shunt the barge across. To complete the spectacle the larger vehicles had to provide some get-go momentum. The most entertaining was a giant truck in the evening. This thing had to drive on to the barge slowly and carefully due to its size and take up position at what guess would be the stern (back) of the barge for the crossing. To kick it off the truck's motors screamed to life as it accelerated down the length of the barge as quickly as it could manage. Then, and this part was timed with the boat firing in to action, with meters to spare, slammed on the breaks which just sent the barge flying. Hours of pleasure was derived from observing these crossings over a cool Bia Lao.

Our hotel was ace. A few measly dollars got us beach side, sans flushing toilet, in a hotel sized bamboo tree hut. The rickety stairs leading to the first landing were enough to deter us from excessive drinking. That, and being mature responsible adults *cough*.

This town began the social tourist get togethers which occurred quite coincidentally for almost every breakfast and dinner, in this village and the next. The party comprised two Australian school teachers who entertained us with social drinking games, a typical Australian family, a couple of Dutch cycle enthusiasts biking Laos, and a Polish girl who arrived in Laos donning nothing but a wallet full of Great British Nonexchangeable Pounds. A tip for future travellers: when travelling to remote villages it's probably a good idea to bring a locally accepted currency with you.

After a night settling in to Laos we all (13) set off the next morning, embarking on the three hour boat ride to the next village.

Seuss's Dreams

It's rubbish. The last town you hit in Vietnam before the northern-most Laos border is rubbish. The restauranteurs know it. The hoteliers of overpriced soulless squalors know it. And the tour guides know it, which is why the bus out of there leaves at 5am.

The road out is a winding, old, narrow, pot-holy road that is yet to be tar sealed. Our chariot was also old and required semi-regular maintenance every few meters. The drive, oh the drive, was one of the finest. The towering and giant hills we were on, were winding through, were divine. Out of this world. Gnarled trees reached up against the sky. Small plateaus were utilised for rice paddies or humble shacks. Rock faces reached to the sky. Mountain tops came in such steep and sudden sets that a number were breaking, forming perfect statues of waves. While driving along only one thing is clear; Laos was designed by Dr Seuss.

Best meal in Hanoi

The last day dawned as any other. We braved the hectic streets and mad motos trying to hit us to explore the markets..Interesting. And then a walk. Which included hitting the Hanoi Hilton a second time. It didn't get much better.

We discussed our lunch options with our hotel staff and, after gloating over discovering the local Pho Ten, were told that we had not yet been to Hanoi's best restaurant. So, with a name and a general direction we set out in search of lunch. We ended up at a restaurant that just got it. Half of Hanoi was nestled in to every corner of this restaurant; this restaurant which took up nearly an entire block. The walk to our table could be counted in minutes. This place was popular, and popular for a reason; the food. I had a wanton pork Pho while Craig managed pork in rice paper. Motts tackled a giant pile of beef and Morgan something soupy. Ban Xeo (sp?), the vietnamese pancake, was shared between us but included bean sprouts and pork. And was also served with rice paper. Delicious. The name of the restaurant should appear on other attached photo.

This was our last big meal in Hanoi before heading off to Sapa. A short but argumentative taxi trip led us to the sleeper train where we all relaxed in style til 4am. Thus ending staying in major cities. This really was a significant city for us by now, having farewelled Blinky who needed to return to work, and Tom and Anna who wanted to explore Thailand, to greeting Motts and Morgan who will be joining us for the next leg of the journey. Adieu to some, bonjour to others.

Ninh Binh, retrospective

I just realized I completely skipped Ninh Binh in my blog, one of our brief excursions out of Hanoi. I will keep this brief.

Ninh Binh has been blessed with impressive scenery and some cool caves. It is very late and so to speed this up I will go in bullet point form.

- we went early in the morning during low season (high season would be awful)
- we went to the ones north of the city via rubbish scooters
- our hotel was average
- our dinner was awful (goat...)
- the city has no culture or vibe
- Monopoly Cards (yes, there is a card game) with Anna, Tom, Morgan and Craig was awesome
- at restaurants we learnt the word for goat was De
- the ancient pagodas and so on here were new then made to look old
- the supermarket was cranking a pop-techno version of Happy Birthday on repeat

Worth it for the scenery and the supermarket only.

Sapa

With an evening of mulled wine behind me, and a journey to Laos ahead, I realized I really should jot down what I've been up to these past few days.

First class tickets in the overnight train rushed us from Hanoi to Sapa* recently.

*Turns out 1 hours steep, windy, pot-holey drive from Sapa.

Mots, Morgan, Craig and I shared a cabin on the train and filled the time nicely with some vigorous 500. We were roused at 4:30AM for no reason in particular by a guard, which was nearly an hour before we needed to disembark the train to start the day. Perhaps an early warning call for those that take a while to wake.

Sapa is a mountainous town with beautiful views overlooking valleys of rice paddies. Or at least that's what I assume is out my window when the cloud hasn't settled in for winter. We/our mini-van was chased in to town by a dozen of the local village-touts; villagers dressed in traditional garb selling home made knitted things. Each seem to be identical in conversation, asking where you're from then enticing you to their village miles away for a lunch.

Our hotel, the White Lotus, is superb. Amazing value as the rooms are very nice and a delicious breakfast is included. We've had a few chats with the hotelier and it's just great to have a host who gets it. He knows guests want to relax, have fun in the local area, and be comfortable, all for a fair price. We have had to earn our keep though by fixing up the hotels excuse for a network (he had 2 DHCP servers, 1 mis-configured wifi-daisy-chain link, and a redundant router). He unfortunately repaid us with a number of shots of Moonshine, followed by a plastic bottle full of the stuff. He makes this himself, bootleg styles.

Yesterday was a bike-hiring day. We ended up motoring for maybe 3 or so hours over this massive hill and right down in to this far away valley. Amazing scenery. Utterly utterly amazing. So beautiful to be scootering along and seeing the edge of the road drop off in to this far away valley below. The road continued to alter between paved and not paved, with a few rather bumpy bits (Morgan nearly fell of Craig's bike at one point). We finished in a far away village that served amazingly tasty Pho. Then back on the bikes to repeat the experience, just with threateningly low fuel gauges this time.

Today was a walking day. Mots, who is still suffering from jetlag, was up around 6 or 7. He noticed that one of yesterdays touts had camped outside our hotel waiting to take us to her village. The walk was amazing, although could have benefited from some visibility. I still remember the moment the cloud cleared just a little to reveal the miles of rice paddies scarring the hills in every direction. The photos I have got cannot do it justice for even the fresh, cold misty air is necessary to make the scene complete. Really beautiful stuff. We ended up eating at ???s place (instant noodle, egg, and more rice than you can shake a stick at) then departed on our return journey. Maybe around 20+ kms walked total, a pretty solid effort.

This journey in to Sapa has been so good. Vietnam's a pretty full on place with the pace of every city being busy and constantly in your face, never letting you relax. This chilled out haven is the opposite of it all. Everyone is more relaxed. The roads are quiet. The people are friendly. People are growing up in villages and leading more wholesome lives. It's just a shame that so many other parts of Vietnam have lost touch with these pure beginnings.

Anyway, up at 6 to pack then head 300km to our last Vietnam town pre Laos. Better hit the hay.

Hanoi

The streets are bustling with vibrant life. From street corners coated in miniature plastic chairs ready to allay the swarms with street foods and beer hois, to the roads covered in never-ending streams of motorcyclists. Identical shops selling indistinguishable items wrestle for precious footpath real estate. And parked motos precariously pinch the the remaining non-existent free space.

This is Hanoi, Vietnam's Capitol. A city with a super vibe. I feel like a knowledgable Traveller of Vietnam now also. My haggling is quick, my menu orders are concise, and I can even cross a street with the 8 million oncoming automobiles racing towards me, horns blaring and all. The latter being a daily undertaking which, I sadly recall, had reduced a Finnish woman to tears in Saigon a few weeks earlier.

One should come to Hanoi to soak up the vibe and relax, eating the local grub and drinking the local beer at every opportunity. The sightseeing in the city is limited, but I shall document a brief run down of what we saw. And a slightly more verbose run down of what we ate.

We based ourselves on the northern point of some popular lake, at the Central Hanoi Hotel, in the heart of the 'old city'. An ace hotel with friendly staff, although some rooms closer to reception suffer a bit from noise pollution. Down the road is an abundant supply of eateries, and even the popular Beer Hoi Corner. And shops. And touts. Of course. There's some pagoda on the nearby lake which was apparently pretty cool. A quick taxi and you're at the B52 in a lake. Spoiler alert, it's not in the lake. I'm not giving other travellers any clues as to where it is though, you'll just have to work it out like the rest of us, by going to the lake then wandering around. The Hanoi Hilton is also nearby, an old French prison. It's no Alcatraz but it's got some cool photos. And a sign explicitly stating that frolicking was prohibited. The highlight for me from my day of sightseeing was visiting the Hanoi Social Club. Undoubtedly the most expensive meal thus far, and a western meal of all things, but very tasty. We all went for burgers and fries which were awesomely delectable. Here we also sampled Egg Coffee; Vietnamese coffee with egg yoke and baileys. Interesting.

One unexpected sight was the local electronics store. The 'car park' Is crammed with thousands of tv boxes, and so on, and there are several containers in the centre. Stacked vertically. Goods are accessible via a lift which just seems..uncanny. Photo included.

There have been two new foods I have sampled in this city. One of them is pretty western and I'm in disbelief that we can't buy this on every corner back home.

Rice Pancakes (guessed at recipe)
Some watery batter made with rice flour
Wrap mushrooms and (???/to be clarified)
Top with shallots
Serve with some generic spicy dipping sauce
Salt and pepper are likely important ingredients also.

Eating this was bliss. The hot soft pancake mixed with the flavoursome mushrooms just made this dish a real highlight of Hanoi.

BeefSteak Baugette
Omelette, mince, marinated and beaten fillet (oyster sauce, salt, pepper), onion, curried sauce and French fries, all crammed in to a fresh toasted Baugette. One variation includes laughing cow spreadable cheese. To say I'm addicted to these tasty chalorofic delights would be an understatement. I go to sleep each night dreaming of these and nothing more.

Back to anticipating the next meal. So long as it's not goat again I'll be happy.

Football in the Street

Ok ok ok. So, Cat Ba island is the land of scams and mafia-like taxi/moto-services BUT it's awesome. It's a continuation of everything bad I described in my prior blog post, and it's surprisingly awesome also.

We've spent the majority of our rainy time here playing Monopoly the card game, Ports of Call and Chinese Chess. All very addictive in their own right.

Tonight, dear diary, was awesome. After a whole afternoon of eating and reading to my hearts content I found myself on a beach with a soccer ball, Tom, Anna, Craig, Blinky, and a bottle of Vietnamese Whisky. Sunset ensued but did not deter. After several hours our need for food drove us back towards the city, but we were delayed. The soccer ball we were passing enticed a few locals out. Out to play a game of 4 on 4. In the middle of the main street. We must have played for roughly an hour, with crowds gathering. Blinky, random French-man, Craig and myself vs Tom and 3 chaps. The game was physically demanding, and saw Craig exit due to injury early on, to be replaced by a Vietnamese passerby. There were many challenging passes, tackles and chases. Everything that makes a game worth while playing. Dominating the street, we played long and hard. The locals loved it. By the end we had an audience roughly 30-strong, some of whom insisted on sharing broken-English conversations for a while afterwards.

As if this wasn't perfect enough we all had a delicious Pho for dinner; this night could not have gone any better! Viva la Vietnam.

Kamikaze Cruises

Well I'm spending the second and final night on one of Ha Long's typical touristy cruises and I've mixed feelings. This is the cheesiest, tackiest, most contrived activity we have done the entire time we have been in Vietnam. Scams and mis-selling is rife. The food is intended for sustenance rather than enjoyment. The beer is too rubbish and expensive to drink. The other tourists.. *cringe*.. Ohh the other tourists. Last night was owned by a loud, arrogant European chap whose well projected, banal comments filled the night air. But that was only the warm up for tonight's Americans. I spent the evening with a book in hand so I could escape any cornered conversations, this far successful, at time of writing. The crew put on clubbing music whilst cruising through a blissful, serene sunset. The captain spends hours serenading himself alone at the karaoke machine each night. This really is not authentic Vietnam at all.

But despite all the problems this cruise is awesome!!!! We are having a blast!

So the boats. They're these floating hotels made to look like junk(s). Ours has two masts with sails but these are clearly for display purposes. And probably for the best as one of our masts is threatening to collapse. This actually paints an apt picture of the general condition of these boats. These are poorly maintained boats with mad, disgruntled and/or uncoordinated skippers. When docking with a pier or another boat a ramming approach seems to be adopted, reminiscent of a kamikaze intentionally inflicting damage whilst writing off their own vessel. Dustin saw one boat pummel another petty well this morning, causing some serious damage to a hand rail.

We've been enjoying some deck time here. My troupe have spent the last two nights sitting up on the top deck furiously playing card games for hours. Primarily Presidents and As, but also a bit of Hearts. Last night we were joined by two Americans and an Australian, the Americans were surprisingly good at P&As and proved to be the ones to beat.

The cruise included two days of kayaking, wandering through a cave, and a bit of swimming.

Today's kayak we spent trying to evade our guide, and we were rather successful at this. He eventually caught up and together we paddled through a cave to a lake. There were monkey type critters playing in the trees. Very cool. Back at the boat we were left waiting for one kayak from our group to return, having gone (intentionally) in a different direction from the rest of us. This gave us some time to purchase snacks from a rowing tout, a convenience store on water. Upon seeing the tout's selection the New Yorker with us screamed "Oh my God, OREOS!", thus setting herself up for a hard time haggling. After an hour plus of waiting, and a worried guide performing scouting missions, the missing comrades arrived just as lunch was being served. Clever sods.

From here we spent the afternoon swimming and jumping from the top deck of our taxi-like boat, - we had changed boats for the day trip - roughly 2-meters high. This same boat ended up breaking down, engine siezed in all it's glory, miles from anywhere. Smug Craig had commented on an unwell sounding engine hours earlier. We were towed around for the rest of the day until we returned to our floating hotel.

The final great activity, before the cards kicked in, was jumping off our big boat. Top deck. Four plus meters high. Freaky as. I have never jumped off anything this high (without a parachute or harness). Then again. And again and again. I hopefully have a bit of cool video footage of everyone going hard on the simultaneous team jumps. Bruised from impacts we called it a day.

Hanoi to Halong Bay

More of an informative update rather than my usual wax lyrical narratives. We (Tom, Anna, Craig, Dustin and myself) are off to Halong Bay on a cruise for a few days. I've purchased sim card credits which should allow me to get online, but in case it doesn't, we'll be back in civilization by the 10th.

Hue - day trip

Finally a massive city that is calm and relatively tout-free.

Our meals were at Nina's, drinks at Liberty Cafe & Bar (10.000 local beers, good pool table, comfy chairs).

We had allocated a single day for Hue and, in the interest seeing all we could, we signed up for a guided tour via private car. And this was superb. Our guide is associated with our common eatery, find Nina's and you'll find the tour. So, the tour included an amazing Buddhist monastery in the morning and a less impressive but still noteworthy one in the afternoon. The morning one was nestled out amongst gorgeous trees. The first thing that strikes you when entering the area is the amazing calm. All that serenity. If you can shut out the two persistent touts that is. "I haven't changed my mind since the last four times I said no, but thanks for checking".

The monastery was beautiful. There were a few graves for eunuchs which er...started a few 'how do they?' conversations. Thanks google for answering those uncomfortable questions. We were fortunate to see some monks in prayer, their humming and singing combining to create a rich melodical drone.

On to a few tourist shacks, each selling incense, ^ hats and/or paintings. I wandered in to one art gallery and was really blown away with the works. Very beautiful pieces, cleverly crafted. My favourites: one was of an evening scene near water, a real abstract one, where colours and brush strokes combined to create blissful chaos. The second was of two extremely obese westerners passionately waltzing in plush surroundings, surrounded by cigarettes and bottles of booze. Interesting.

Onwards to view a US military outpost. One which looked out over a river that runs out to Cambodia. Amazing scenery.

Then to some dudes tomb. An emperor of sorts, back when the French were calling the shots here. Tu Duc's tomb (thanks google), built 1867. Pretty impressive. He had over 100 wives which strikes me as being rather foolish for many reasons. We saw three tombs whilst here, each with two walls and open ceilings. Each had a picture of an animal and a few Buddhist looking symbols around the place, their purpose being to 'frighten off' evil spirits.

Next up, an old war-camp (mostly completely destroyed), the remains of which looked awful/typical.

On to another monastery. Still impressive and scenic, but lacking the calmness of the first. Perhaps the tourists were taking that away. Still, some impressive buildings.

Finally off to the 'citadel'. The old city centre was surrounded by a fairly impressive wall. We got out of the car and just had a wander to a giant flag pole and to entrance in to something else.

Feeling full from a day of intense exploring we went back to our local eatery. The afternoon flittered away quickly and we were soon on our night train to Hanoi.

Hoi An - the highlights

In between suit fittings we spent our time exploring the old city and tracking down good feeds.

Walking the streets of the old city is fantastic, by day and by night. It is truly beautiful next to the river and has a great vibe down each small road. There are a number of 'attractions' which you can buy tickets for. The noteworthy sites were The Japanese Bridge (you can view it from the outside, no need to waste a ticket) and a live performance (a bit cheesy and cringeworthy at times, but some interesting music). One house we visited had marked on the walls where the water had risen to over each historical flood. The second highest one from the last 40(+?) years occurred just a few weeks ago.

On another day we attended a cooking class in a restaurant by the river. Gorgeous dishes. We made chicken & ginger hot pot, amazing spring rolls, Vietnamese salad, and cumin(?) encrusted fish. Recipes to be posted.

One of the best evenings was spent relaxing at a Beer Hoi spot, joined by a number of Ozzy travellers. At the end of the evening and en route home we were stopped by some students from Hue who insisted on sharing a drink. We exchanged phrases and explanations on our respective homes, Hue and Wellington, as best we could for quite some time. They were charming chaps with great attitudes and fumbling English. At the very end of the night, when the bill required settling, they refused to accept a cent for the beer we had consumed. Very generous.

Hoi An is a choice little town, we discovered a few ace eateries, including our poshest meal yet, and the suits are superb. I'm glad we ended up staying an extra day here, even if it was due to ill health.