Hue to Hoi An

It's really, really raining outside, the kind of rain that soaks you to the skin within 30 seconds. Luckily, we have become pros at seeing the signs and made it to our hotel from the beach with seconds to spare. It truly is monsoon season here in Vietnam - however the rain is limiting itself to about an hour a day at around 3pm, after which the 2 foot deep puddles which have formed disappear in a matter of minutes. So, the perfect hour for a blog update.
We spent a nice couple of days in Hue, which is a really relaxed feeling, picturesesque town built around the Perfume river (which did not smell quite as good as the name suggests!) It was the national capital up until 1945 . It's city that is rich with history (I feel like I'm writing a travel brochure now!), but the damage that the old city suffered during the Vietnam war is very clear in parts. As we stayed a relatively short time, we booked a City Tour, which took us on a whirlwind day visiting the highlight attractions of Hue. This began with a visit to a conical hat and incense making village, which was pretty interesting, especially seeing the work that goes into making the hats. Kev, of course, then bought one. The most impractical souveneir for carrying around in/on a backpack. The novelty of wearing it wore(!) off very fast...
The next stops of the tour were to 3 different tombs of emperors which were pretty impressive, thought the most impressive part we found was the grounds in which they were set, especially the tomb of Minh Mang. Something his concubines probably appreciated given that they were confined to living there after his death...
After lunch, Kev and I rejoined the tour a little late on motorbikes as we managed to miss the bus. This was not our fault. The bus left early. Once we found them again, we visited the Citadel, the Imperial city of Hue. Sadly, many of the presumably once majestic buildings have suffered extensive bomb damage, leaving huge, empty areas. This tour ended with a trip to a Pagoda and a boat trip down the river. All in all a good way to see the major sights of the city.
The rest of our time in Hue we spent with James and Amy, who we have travelled with on and off since Yangshou in China. Many games of pool were played a fair few local beers sampled before we all got on the bus for a 5 hour trip to Hoi An.
It made a nice change not to travel overnight for once and the journey seemed really quick. The bus dropped us at the hotel they clearly had a commission 'deal' with, something we normally like to avoid. However, it was pouring with rain and this (cheap) hotel was really nice - it even came with a pool! We didn't venture back out that evening. The next day was tailor day! Hoi An is famous for it's tailors, who will reproduce anything you want made in a matter of hours. After a LOT of deliberating, I got a dress made and Kev got a couple of shirts and a flat cap. This left a good amount of time to wander around and see the town whilst the clothes were being made. It's a lovely town, with traditional buildings and beautiful lanterns hanging everywhere. And the clothes are great! The following day we borrowed bikes from the hotel and cycled 5km to the beach, our first since India, where we spent a relaxing day reading and sunbathing. The next evening we took another overnight bus here to Nha Trang, the beach capital of Vietnam and known as a party town. Here, me met up with James and Amy again and have spent a week enjoying the sunshine, the scuba diving and the nightlife (but not enjoying the thieves). More of that later!