Nice little historic town just out of Da Nang (famous for Americans, China Beach etc)... bit of a tourist trap but genuinely nice place, lots to see and one of the best places in Vietnam to see and old style area that hasn't been leveled for hotels, corporates or skinny houses. A few adventures to get here, the first real ones of the trip... an interesting and scenic (also possibly referred to as "smelly" by some) day train from Hue brought us to Da Nang where we and a Brit couple entered into some heated bartering with taxis and "private car" drivers to get to Hoi An... the winning bidder got us for US$16 (already more than the fare is supposed to be) but he then got accosted by the other drivers as he tried to load our gear, for undercutting the "going rate"... we got a couple of km down the road before he started saying he needed more money because he was going to get beaten up when he got back... while it was only a couple of dollars sometimes you have to stand on principle and after a head-on row the car stopped and I stayed in the cab (good tip to remember) while the Brit guy got out and pulled our bags out and we politely told him to "have a nice day" and sent him on his way empty handed... from there some locals pointed us onto a "local bus" to Hoi An, which believe it or not led to another long and heated argument as the bus tout got us on board then told us we had to pay "foreigner rate" which was twice what the locals paid. We got to Hoi An and decided it was not worth the drama (this was over less than $1 difference) and handed over the cash... you have to pick your battles in these places and after an hour on a rough, hot bus I just needed beer... and beating up a local who is two feet short of you is not going to achieve much other than exciting the local cops and getting a very exciting spell in a local "jail".
Once here we trekked through town with packs on and thanks to a bit of mis-navigation from my companion and a friendly local telling us our hotel was "ten minutes", we ended up walking about five km at the peak of the midday heat carrying all our worldly goods... fun and games all round... but hey, that's what makes it interesting!!
Hoi An is a pretty town and a UNESCO World Heritage site, preserved and restored with sites dating back to the 1600's and early trading with China, Japan and further afield... also home to dozens of silk shops, tailors, suit makers etc (it's where the Top Gear guys got their suits done I think?)... like Hue also beautiful food and the beaches are apparently great (will see). Many tourists (comparitively) and becoming a real destination of choice (mostly for Aussies).
After a day looking around I think I might extend the hotel another night and take the time to head to the beach tomorrow and chill a bit, the hotel here is advertised as "one of the top resorts in South East Asia" (Hue Beer is also apparently widely known as "the best beer in the world"... hmm) ... it's not, but it's nice enough, and it has a pool which is a big bonus in these parts!! From here it will be on to Cambodia, likely via a flight from Da Nang to Saigon (toyed with doing the train again but the arrival times in Saigon are all middle of the night and sadly flying is not much more expensive, which is a shame as I still love trains) and then probably cross country into Cambodia and north.
I hear (from an Aussie) the rugby was worth a watch, sady no place to watch in Hue... the main local ex-pat bar has heaps of Aussie sports channels but oddly none of them were playing the rugby!! Hope all is well where you are...
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