Central Vietnam – Hue and Hoi An

On our long journey south, one of the trains we were intending to catch turned out to be full, leaving us with tickets for a late night departure. Time for a classic traveller’s trick – a 5-hour stay in a wifi-equipped restaurant. “One more coffee please, to share.” That’ll do us for another hour!

We visited two different cities in Central Vietnam – Hue and Hoi An. Hue was, in our opinion, a bit missable. While there, we saw some OK-ish heritage sites. What was cool, however, was meeting up with a guy we had travelled with in Turkey, as our paths crossed for a day.

Hoi An was considerably more interesting. While there, we went to the famous tailor shops (there are over 500 of them in the small city!) The choice was a bit overwhelming, but after many fittings we took away a new bundle of clothes to stuff into our already full bags.

In Hoi An, you can hire a bike for $1 a day and ride to the nearby beaches and countryside. We spent a couple of afternoons lying back in sun loungers on the beach, enjoying food and drinks from a beachside restaurant. This is the life!

One day we rode through an area full of water coconuts (like mangroves but more awesome). Then we came across a tiny restaurant packed full of chatty Vietnamese people. Before long, they were handing us beer and inviting us to join their family lunch. One old man didn’t speak any English, but he tasked Craig to match him beer for beer using international drinking sign language. Lucky the glasses were small, as we had to get back on our bikes!

Initially we were lukewarm about Vietnamese food, but as we’ve come further south we have been discovering some delicious dishes. Both Hue and Hoi An served up great food (both in restaurants and on the street).

Nem lui hue (Barbequed pork on lemongrass skewers)

We’ve got another big transport leg ahead – a 17 hour night bus to Dalat. The sleeper buses in Vietnam are quite strange, with three rows of double decker bunks and tiny aisles. This creates a bit of a claustrophobic environment – particularly for 6-foot-plus Craig, who’s a fair bit longer than the seat/bed.

So we left the beach behind and continued making our way south, climbing into the Vietnamese highlands.

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson