Day Forty-Three

Hue Citadel & Travelling to Hoi An

Bright start to the day & we were eating breakfast really early. We had brought our bags down from the room & we checked out, paid for our room so now all we had to do from visiting the Citadel would be to come back from looking around, collect our bags & get on to the bus.

Using the map again we could see that the Citadel wasn't far to walk from the hotel & the hotel staff said that it was about a 15 minute walk. We got our march on because we didn't have long to look around. We came out of the hotel & we crossed over the road so that we could walk along the water front of the river & take a look around. Along the river's edge there was lots of garden area's that had artistic sculptures in them. We came to the main bridge which had lots of traffic going across it. We needed to cross the bridge to get to the other side of the river as that's where the Citadel was.

The bridge was quite long & there was plenty of motorbikes whizzing by but luckily there was a pedestrain walkway so it felt quite safe to cross. On the other side of the bridge there was lots of bigger shops. We walked passed what looked like a park & there was lots of people with birdcages selling them. It was nice to see all the bird cages hanging in the trees outside people shops. We walked down a very busy street & in an area where there was lots of bridges & stone archways. Walking up to the Citadel there was lots of war memorabilia such as big tanks on the side of the roads or big bomb shells that you could look at.

We arrived at the Citadel itself & we paid the entrance fee. Inside there was lots of buildings that were colourfully decorated especially with the colour red. We walked in to a masive couryard which has what looked like big incense burners. There was nice walkways through the buildings which lead through to the next buildings. The further we walked the more we realised that the Citadel was undergoing massive reconstruction work which spoilt there whole place. As we continued to walk to the back part there was a huge lake which was off set to one side.

The place was really beautiful but it was a real shame about all the building work. We didn't walk around for too long as there wasn't much to see. To be honest it was a big disappointment & we were sorry that we dragged ourselves out of bed early to get there.We walked back to the courtyard to see if there was anything else we could look at. I went over to the big pots that I had seen on the way in so I could have a look & surprisingly inside was water & fish. It was just like a bit iron gold fish bowl. We soon left after that & made our way back to the hotel.

Now back at the hotel all we had to do was sit & wait to be picked up. Once on the big sleeper bus we settled down on the back seats once again & prepared ourselves for the journey. It was only going to take about 6 hours so it wasn't an over night journey like we had done before. On the bus there wasn't much to do apart from catch up with a bit of writing & reading. We had looked in the books for the activities & sights to see in Hoi An.

After sleeping for a couple of hours we soon arrived in Hoi An & the journey wasn't that bad at all, a little bumpy but thats to be expected. We got off the bus & we had to wait to be picked up by the hotel once again. The pick up service was becoming to nice, lets hope they have this when we go to other countries. In the taxi with our bags & heading to the hotel we were very surprised that it wasn't far at all from where we were dropped off.

Outside the hotel we were extremely surprised to see the Isralin couple we had met from the Ha Long Bay trip sitting outside. The came over to speak to us & they told us of the things they had been doing in Hoi An. The also informed us that they were waiting outside because they were actually waiting for the bus as they were moving on from Hoi An. The nice Isralin girl showed me her lovely coat that she had bought from many of the clothes shops in Hoi An, I was really jealous & couldn't wait to go exploring around. We done the whole checking in service & we were shown to our room. On our way to the room we walked passed the hotel swimming pool which wasn't massive but it was adequate if you wanted to take dip.

We spent about five minutes trying to get in to the room as the key was really stiff & it wasn't turning in the lock. There three of us had a go at trying to get access to the room before I ran down to the reception to let them know that we couldn't get in. I made my way back up to the room only to find that Andy had used brutal force to open the door & with no success the key snapped in half so now we didn't even have a key to access the room. After 5 minutes of waiting two men came up to the room & tried a few keys. They finally managed to open the door & give us a new key.

We settled in to the room pretty quickly as it was extremely comfortable & it had 2 double beds, a mini fridge, tv & even a view of the swimming pool from our indoor balcony. We chilled out for an hour or so before we headed out to explore & to get some food. Outside the hotel it was not far to the centre of Hoi An. We quickly realised that Hoi An was actually not that big a place at all. We got to a street where there was lots of hanging lanterns on wires that were running across the streets from shop to shop. The rumours were right this place is a woman's paradise as the first street we walked down there was nothing but clothes shops - total heaven.

We continued to walk down the streets and the buildings where magnificant. You could really see the French influence in this town. The houses had many floors and they where painted in a really bright yellow colour. To be honest it looked as if we were where in Cuba just because the style of the buildings. They also had lovely verandas and balconies and it appeared as if Hoi An was an expensive part of Vietnam. We looked in and out of all the wonderful material shops and thats when I began to fall in love with the place. You could buy any type, any colour and any pattern of material it was great. We looked in and out of the clothes shops where they actually make the clothes to suit. I was determined that I was going to get something made so I went in and out of the shops to see if I could find a material I liked.

I finally came to a shop that had a lovely lightweight cotton which also had a fabulous design so I started dealings with the shop lady to get a pair of funky cool trousers made. In no time at all the material was out and I was measured from top to bottom and a small deposit was made. The lady had told me to come back to the shop tomorrow night with my reciept and my trousers will be made. I was over the moon & couldn't wait to see what they look like.

Time for food! As well walked down the street further we came to the river. It looked so romantic because the water was all light up by lanterns. The buildings all had lovely fancy lights outside - this was now beginning to feel like a holiday as the weather was great too. In the river was lots of brightly coloured boats. They sat so still as there was no movement on the water and you could see the reflection of the boats in the water due to the lovely soft lighting that was around. To cross the small river there was a lovely small bridge that had more laterns going right across. There was hardly any street lights just the lights from the shops and the laterns. I really like Hoi An, its such a wonderful place.

We crossed over the bridge and there was more shops and more places to eat. We finally found a lovely little restuarant so we sat down to look at the menu. The food we ate wasn't the best food that we have had in Vietnam and it certainly wasn't the cheapest either but the surroundings where amazing. We slowly took a stroll back to the hotel so we could get a good nights sleep as we wanted to go to the Marble Mountains tomorrow and we wanted to set off early.

Back at the hotel we chilled out & didn't actually end up going to sleep till quite late. Ana had said that she didn't want to go to the Marble Mountains but that she actually prefered to stay in the hotel to rest and plan the next stage of her travelling. That was it then, we had a day to ourselves - great, we were made up.

Marble Mountains it is then tomorrow! Three becomes Two (back to normal)......................