At the wedding we talked to a lady from Hanoi who said it was quite cool in HaNoi. We therefore mistakenly thought Hoi An and Hue, which were on the coast, would be also pleasantly cool… how wrong we were! The weather every day was 37-42 degrees but the ‘real-feel” was in the region of 10 degrees hotter. We basically sweated our way around central Vietnam for a week…it was extreme
Andrew had been to Hoi An in 2000 on the 50th birthday trip, a time when the country was a little less tourist developed. I had not been, so was interested to see this tourist spot. It was lovely, but so so so many tourists. We spent one morning in the old town, which included 40 minutes hiding in a cafe to escape the heat before we could go to lunch. After lunch it was back to the delight air-con at the hotel for the hottest part of the day before emerging in the early evening when temperatures had reduced a little and we could walk back downtown to see the evening lights.
The next day we got on bicycles and rode through paddy fields, out to the beach. I had been advised to pick a hotel out of the old town area, as it was quieter . So the area half way between the old town and the beach turned out to be ideal for us. The bikes had no real brakes, but but we survived.
Our hotel had an arrangement with a restaurant at the beach where we got loungers. It was a lovely day wandering in and out of the water, drinks and food delivered to the loungers and the 1st time at the beach in a long time
We ate both nights at Vy’s Market Restaurant it was just so easy and the food selection was great.
We had organised a car from Hoi An to Hue, which is about 2.5 hours driving time. Along the way we stopped at a “stone village “ more accurately a stone carving shop eager to sell us statues – only $100 for the statue and shipping to NZ per cubic metre. We didn’t buy anything but Andrew took lots of photos and even asked for their business card – so I guess they are expecting an order from us some time soon.
Then it was up Marble mountain, which is a major tourist destination just outside Da Nang. Lots of walking in the heat, up and down steps. We were there just under an hour, but it did feel like we had climbed Everest, sweated unreasonably and seen some nice temples and caves. But so nice to get back to the air-con car.
It was the same route we took last year …over Hai Van pass again ( no thank you we don’t want to stop take photos) past Lang Co beach again (no thank you we don’t want to stop take photos) stopped for lunch at AP Lan lagoon same as we did last time, and then another hour down to Hue. I had been to Hue before and really enjoyed it so it was nice to give Andrew a chance to also experience it.
Our hotel in Hue, Alba Spa boutique hotel =, had given us a brochure about a day tour that covered a number of sites that weren’t easily accessible on foot – so the next morning we joined a van of 9 other tourists from Australia and Austria and they were a nice bunch. It turned out to be a packed day and in the heat we were so tired by the end of the day. Every time we finished a site it was lovely to get back to the air-conditioned van.
We started off at the Citadel/Imperial palace which had been the ancient capital of Central Vietnam.
We visited the 7 storey Thien Mu pagoda before having a river boat trip back down the river for lunch and a foot soak.
Then it was an afternoon of temples from the austere outside Khai Dinh tomb to the peaceful lake and mausoleum of Minh Mang. On the way back to the city we stopped briefly in the incense making village with it’s beautiful colours.
after the exertions of the tour day our final day in Hue was a more relaxed affair meandering around. We ate well and returned for two meals at Madame Thu’s.
As we did last year, we again entered Laos via the land border crossing at Lao Bao. We left Hue about 8:30 and were through the border and sitting eating lunch at Ban Dong by 12:30. Saturday is a big day for border runs (people needing to exit Vietnam to re-enter to get a visa renewals ) and there were a lot of people on site compared with 18:00 on a Sunday. But we timed it nicely and went through without any delays
Bomb casings, from the American War are a common sight in the Xepon area and are often used as garden ornaments or part of house construction. And while Andrew was out seeing our favorite rural 2-goat town, I sat in the office before a big dinner out at the local Karaoke Bar.
We stayed 2 nights in Xepon to catch up with colleagues, then it was down to Savannakhet and the flight to Vientiane. The roads are busy with container trucks going to and from the Chinese Paper Mill and Chinese gold Mine. And the flight was also full of mainly Chinese staff appearing to come off shifts.
Vientiane was a much more relaxed visit than the last time with 6 nights this time. This meant we could visit a number of places, restaurants and people we hadn’t been able to fit in last time. It worked out really well.
Carrying 10kg of Lao Coffee Beans in our luggage we headed down to Singapore for 1 night and a walk around the Mall at Tampines before flights back to Queenstown.