Day 100 – Hue to Hoi An.

We woke up just before 9am, chucked something on and made our way downstairs for the breakfast buffet. It looked better in photos online but was still very satisfying. Gotta love some watermelon and rice for breakfast! We then picked up our washing and went back upstairs to pack ready for check out and the bus at 1pm. Chrissy bought some elephant pants, we had a small lunch in Why Not and got on the bus.

The journey was only about 4 hours and the bus even had wifi which made the time pass faster. Sunflower Hotel offer a free pick up service from the bus station and were waiting for us when we arrived, which was lovely, making the journey even easier!

We arrived in Hoi An late afternoon and as it was the 14^th day of the Luna calendar (making it a full moon), the monthly Lantern festival was on. We walked down to the river early evening and the river was already filling up with little paper lanterns, lit with candles inside. 

It was beautiful to see them floating down the river and just seeing the whole town come to life with people and celebration. I think what made the difference was lack of cars and motorbikes to disturb the atmosphere, it was just being filled with music and people instead. We walked around for a while and then stopped for dinner in a restaurant overlooking the river. 

We decided here that we should join in with the whole thing, so after dinner we hopped on a little boat, which only cost a couple of quid and included two lanterns for us to put in the water. It was very romantic and also felt a bit like we were in Tangled. After here we walked through the busy streets back to the hotel.

Day 99 – Arriving in Hue.

So the bus wasn't that bad! We arrived in Hue around half 9 and was dropped off at the bus stop. As we got off we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels or get on their scooters but we managed to break free and get in our own taxi. Two girls from our Halong Bay trip were on the same bus and had a free pick up to their hostel, so we jumped in there taxi and then only needed to pay from there to our own. The guy tried to charge us double but we’re too clever for that and I gave him the right amount, got our bags and walked away. He can’t fool me!

We chilled out for a little bit in our room, sorted out what we needed washing and what our plan for the day was. There is currently a big festival on in Hue bringing a good buzz to the place. We walked to the bus shop to book our bus for tomorrow, then made our way over the river.

On the other side is the Purple Temple and many others. This place is currently full of flags, kites, stages, music, anything festival like you can imagine; this place is currently sporting it.

We seem to have arrived in Vietnam at a good time as there are a few festivals and things happening in the time we are here. For dinner we went to the DMZ bar, which is just around the corner and quite high on Trip Advisor (being using TA quite a bit recently!) and we got a 3 course meal and 2 cocktails for £8 each. I don’t know about you, but I think that is a right bargain! 1 cocktail alone in the UK would cost that!