We're crawling up hills and through tunnels continuing our journey along the coast in Vietnam. This leg takes us from historic Hue down to world heritage and tailoring heaven of Hoi An, and is so far proving significantly sweatier than our preceding ones. The bus has probably seen better days, and for the first time in my travels I'm not freezing my limbs off due to overenthusastic air conditioning. We've kept the curtains shut for most of it to protect us from the sun, but can final emerge as the sun moves overhead, enabling us to peek out as the coastline comes into view. And what a lovely view too - in keeping with the rest of the vistas we've encountered to date in Vietnam, though this one has coastline as well as paddy fields.
Hue was a pleasant place to pass a day - though wandering the Citadel in the mid-30s heat was in stark contrast to when I visited the Imperial Palace in Beijing which the structure was modelled on, where I was freezing in temperatures below -12'C. The palaces and temples are being lovingly restored after half a century of decay and the Tet offensive during the Vietnam war amongst other battles since 1805. My eye wasn't well trained enough to spot the scars from bullet holes in the city walls, distracted as I was by the tranquility of the gardens fringed with frangipani trees. We cooled ourselves in the heat with local flavoured ice-cream bars, and on a second eating, I was less enamoured with the sulphur smelling fruit durian, than I first thought. The flavour certainly does linger...
So onwards to Hoi An, the tailoring capital of Vietnam. I'm bracing myself to be overwhelmed by the options and be taken away with the frenzy of cheap clothing. Let's hope I can restrain myself enough to leave budget to sample all the local food specialities the place has to offer too.
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