Sapa, Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An!

Hey Everyone!

Since last post we have left Sapa, gone back to Hanoi, taken an overnight train to Hue and then a bus to Hoi An.
The motorbike tour in Sapa was heaps of fun, Jack and I shared a bike and we went driving through these windy mountain roads and across rivers and down dirt tracks and stopped at lots of places to take photos. We left Sapa in the afternoon and took a sleeper train back to Hanoi.
We had a couple of days off in Hanoi so we went to an old prison called the 'Hanoi Hilton' by the American soldiers that were held captive there in the war. It was used at first by the French to detain Vietnamese who were against them, there was 2 guillotines that were used to chop their heads off! Then it was used to detain Americans during the war and there was all this propoganda about how comfortable the American men were and how they had such a good lift as POWs. But it was overall very interesting!
The next day we went to the waterpark which was apparently built in 2003 but had an awful lot of rust! But there were lots of slides and pools so it was fun!

After Hanoi we took a sleeper train to Hue. We got there early in the morning so had a bit of a rest and then went to lunch at this restaurant that is owned by a mute guy who created his own special type of beer opener (literally - a screw in a piece of wood) but it's really cool and you get a free one and there was heaps of photos of people with their beer openers all over the world!

After that we visited the citadel - where the King used to live before 1945, it was a nice palace but a lot of it was ruined during the war so there were bullet holes everywhere. The next day we took a motorbike tour through the buffalo tracks, past the rice fields where they were harvesting and we visited a fortune teller, a one armed woman who made conical hats, an insense making place and a pagoda. Then we took a boat ride back home. For dinner in Hue we went to a fancy restaurant where they dress you up in robes and give you about 10 courses!

We took a bus to Hoi An the next day. Hoi An is really touristy because it is a beach town. There are about 150 tailors so you see them everywhere and a couple of people in our group are getting suits made, there are also shoe tailors which will custom make you shoes and boots and everything. We walked around the markets yesterday but didn't buy anything yet!

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn to see the fish markets. It was so incredibly busy at the docks as all the fishermen unloaded their boats with so many different types of fish. We got into a little boat with this woman who took us up the harbour. Then we came back, had breakfast and went back to bed! We have spent the rest of the day at the beach. I saw a catameran for rent so tomorrow we're going to go sailing and do some more sunbaking!