Motorbike Mania

see all photos »

We traveled by bus from Hoi An to Hue, and drove along the coast.  It was a very scenic drive which took us past China Beach (remember the Dana Delaney TV show?) and thru mountains.  Luckily Brian and I were feeling better as it was a 4 hour trip.

We were kept very busy in Hue with a 6-hour motorbike tour.  We didn't actually have to drive the motorbikes - Intrepid hired drivers for us and we just sat on the back and hung on for dear life.  The tour took us to the Citadel, the Forbidden City, where the ruler of Vietnam used to live (honestly I'm not sure who exactly lived there.  It was very hot and I was tired and sometimes I didn't listen to the guide).  We also drove thru rice paddies in their farming region and toured  a local market  After that we visited the most famous conical hat maker in all of Vietnam, and yes, I did purchase a hat.  It should be great fun to carry it around for the next 9 days of our trip.  We also made a stop to watch incense sticks be made, which looked like a very tedious job.  For lunch we stopped at a local Nunnery, where the nuns prepared a special vegetarian meal for our group.  Our last stop on the tour took us on a Dragon boat for a short ride down the perfume river.

Perhaps Vietnam could teach Thailand how to run a rail system

see all photos »

Late in the afternoon of that same day our group boarded a night train for a 12 hour ride to Hanoi.  We shared a sleeper cabin with the Aussie couple from our tour, and at one point squeezed all 8 of our group inside to play drinking games to help pass the time.  The train ride was a MUCH better experience than our Thailand train ride, and even arrived 45 minutes EARLY!  Perhaps Vietnam could teach Thailand how to run a rail system.

Anne