Hounded in Hue and (w)Hole lot of Ants in Hoi An

You'll be pleased to hear that Alice and I survived the night bus to Hue, although it wasn't a particularly wonderful experience. We got picked up (about an hour and a half late) by minibus to take us to our bus, but the minibus was so full that a few people (including Alice and I) had to stand up, crammed in against the door. Got taken to our sleeper bus and found seats together, only to discover that one of them was absolutely soaking wet, and so were all the blankets. Niiice. But the driver produced a towel and some dry blankets so we settled down for our 14 hour journey. We were glad to have seat belts, because occasionally we would almost fly up and out of our seats - a stange sensation when you are lying down. I had a bit of trouble when I got up to use the toilet as the bus was lurching all over the place, and not only did the door not lock but it also kept swinging open while I was in there.

Anyway we arrived in Hue at about 9 in the morning, expecting to be greeted by a pick up from our hotel. Not only was there no one to meet us, but there were about 20 men all trying to hassle us and get us to go with them to their hotels. One in particular would not leave us alone, and even when I got angry and told him to 'PLEASE LEAVE IT NOW, OK JUST STOP NOW', this only encouraged him to go and get a leaflet about his hotel. But we made it to our hotel and checked in to our surprisingly delightful 12 dollar a night room.

In Hue we hired bikes and cycled around the city, and then went to the citadel (Hue's big hit) and walked around inside where there was the 'forbidden purple city' (former residence of the royal family way back when, and not remotely purple). That was really nice. On the way back we bumped into a Swiss couple also staying in our hotel so went for a boat ride on the river with them. The boat ride was odd; it seemed to just be someone's houseboat, although the only furnishings were some red plastic chairs and a TV with polystyrene around it. The ride wasn't particularly scenic, and once on board they tried to get us to pay for a load of extras which we didn't appreciate, but it was a pleasant way to pass an hour. Decided to leave after one night as we realised we were a bit pushed for time, so we left the next morning and got on a bus to Hoi An.

Arrived in Hoi An in the afternoon where it was delightfully hot and sunny. Walked around the beautiful, charming old town by the river, found a delicious ice cream shop, and generally maxed and relaxed. Got hounded some more in the market by people desperate to sell us everything under the sun which gets a bit tiring. There are absolutely hundreds of tailor shops in Hoi An, so we chose one recommended to us by our hotel and investigated getting some clothes made. I decided on a blazer and some chinos in the end. When we got back to the hotel after dinner I discovered an ant infestation on my bed which was deeply unpleasant. The next day we got motorbike taxis to the (very nice and quiet) beach and scorched ourselves all day long. Went back into town for another icecream, and then went out for a 12p glass of beer and some 75p cocktails - yum. Went to (a thoroughly cleaned, ant free) bed and woke up to find that it was absolutely pouring with rain, there was a power cut in the whole town and the ants had returned. After explaining for a long time that although 20 dollars might be a good price, we expected to pay that for a clean room without ants, we got moved to a much nicer room where we moped about for most of the day hoping the rain would stop. Hunger eventually drove us out, so we braved the rain which became absolutely torrential as soon as we stepped out and practically swam to dinner.

Woke up today to a sunny Hoi An so we wandered around the old town again, ate a final ice cream, and picked up our tailor made clothes. Now getting ready to get on another 12 hour sleeper bus to Nha Trang, where we hope the weather will stay nice as we need some more beach time.

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