Hue, Vietnam

Blue skies and smiling faces- that is all I have found so far in Northern Vietnam.

Gordy and I left Nha Trang- finally- after two days of being holed up in the room.  The roads were still flooded, but somehow our over-night 12 hour bus ride arrived in Hoi An the morning of the fifth only four hours later then expected. 

Hoi An is really a jewel of a city.  The town itself was made into a World Heritage Site due to its French colonial and Japanese architechture.  So, not only are moto-bikes and cars not allowed in majority of the city center (YES!!), it has retained many of its original foot bridges for over 500 years.  The traditional Hoi An color of bright yellow is painted on majority of the buildings, and gives the entier place a cheery atmosphere.  Which is very nice, given that most the the tourists coming to Hoi An end up haggaling in the other half of what makes Hoi An such a famous city- the tailor shops.  \

We arrived at around 9 am, and wasted no time heading into the city to find a decent tailor.  I had one goal- a green wool winter coat.  It  wasn't easy to find, but after a few shops I found a young girl who not only had the color I wanted but also spoke great english.  After almost an hour of comparing fabrics, styles, and just talking in general we figured out exactly what I wanted- and its beautiful!  That first day I was measured, and Gordy debated about getting a jacket for a while.  He choose to sleep on the idea, because our packs are full to begin with and carrying around a heavy winter jacket in Southeast asia for another month really isn't a wonderful sounding idea. 

The two of us ate at a great place near our hotel called the Laugh Cafe.  We stumbled upon it by chance, and I am so glad we did because it turned out to be a place that not only served great food, but also is helping out the local community in a big way.  Laugh Cafe is a vocational training resturant that trains youth from the country side in hospitality services and english, so that they can then move into cities and earn decent wages for thier families.  When we walked up to check out the menu, a smiling older australian gentlemen gestured to a menu and had us sit down.  Turns out, this man who then served us and chatted us up about local areas of interest was Dr. Peter Braun, who founed Make A Difference Indochina Inc. about five years ago.  After a few beers, we learned that between working at the childrens hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia and the Laugh Cafe in Hoi An, Peter flys around raising money for the foundation and working with other non-profit orginizations.  The Laugh Cafe was a place that Gordy and I spent multiple meals at, and the beer is definalty the coldest in Hoi An we found.  I highly reccomend that anyone traveling in Vietnam check out this great spot, and also checkout the website at http://www.umad.org/

The next day, we rented bicycles and rode out to the beach before our final fittings at the tailors.  The ride was beautiful, and it felt nice to get some real exersice for a bit.  It's amazing how nice it is to move around the city on anything other then two feet after a month of walking around cities carrying packs.  We swam and hung out, then were drenched when an afternoon storm came in.  After it passed we rode back, got our tailor made winter coats and my lovely little blue dress, ate a traditional Hoi An dinner and went to the hotel.  Unfortuantly, we discovered at 10pm that Gordy's coat has an unfinished seam in the back (aka a frigging hole in the coat that wasn't sewn in the first place!).   While I tried my darndest, there was no way to get a hold of the shop before we left at 8 am the next morning.  Arggg. 

Getting into Hue was a great bus ride- it was our first time in the Vietnam highlands and the misty mountains really are breath taking.   We found a hotel, walked around and down to the river, and just relaxed for the evening.  Today we took a motorbike out of town to the Minh Mang and Khai Dinh tombs, down river from town around 12 kilometers.  On our way out of town a small Vietnamese woman rode up along side up and started chatting- while navigating Vietnamese traffic around 30 km an hour.  She showed us a few shortcuts to the temples, and after we were done invited us to her home for tea!  It was incredible, talking to a native and haveing her show us photos of her home before the river flooded years ago, her wedding day pictures, and alot of snapshots from when her kids were growing up.  It doesn't matter what culture or country you're in, mothers still think thier kids are the greatest. : )

We leave tomorrow night for Hanoi, and are probably going to spend the day in the walled city across the river.  Gordy and I had a little spill on the motorbike on our way to the tombs, so we both are looking forward to sleeping in.   Nothing serious, but enough for us to justify being lazy for a day.

Cheers!