As we left a long stay in Da Lat, we started a quick combination of three cities on the central coast: Nha Trang (7 hours), Hoi An (2 nights), and Hue (1 night). Each city was different and great for its own reasons, but everyday we fought off the damp mists at best and heavy rain at worst.

First up was Nha Trang. We had 7 hours between bus rides so we walked to an ancient, 600 year old Cham temple. The temple was interesting, but slightly belittled by the six gift shops on the temple grounds and it's location in the middle of a city with high rises well above its little hill.

The charm of Nha Trang came from a friendly local Easy Rider tour guide who sparked a conversation with us at a cofee shop. After the standard topics, he let us in on his view of the government, the facade of success put in front of tourists, the corruption keeping shops in and out of business and people in and out of jobs. Despite fractured English, this guy was a wealth of information from a local perspective. Thank you, [name removed].

After snagging a copy of East of Eden by Steinbeck from a mobile bookstore (shoutout to Aaron), we were off to Hoi An.

Hoi An is probably the quaintest city I've ever seen. Boats are wooden and colourful, storefronts are paneled and old fashion, and the streets are small with bright lanterns. Despite a continuous drizzle, the walk around the small town was refreshing and delicious as we snacked on fresh donuts and ate a local favorite called Cao Lau. Apparently it can only be made here because it requires a special noodle to be cooked in a water that can only come from a specific local well. I don't care if any of that matters, because it was legit. So good.

Since it was raining, we kept to indoor activities: cafes, Bahn Mi Queen, chicken rice, 10¢ beers, blind massages, and shop tours. All good and sometimes interesting.

After two days stuck indoors, however, I wanted to explode with all the stored energy I possessed. My god, I would hate to be an indoor cat. Once we got to Hue, we found things that guaranteed at least 8 miles of walking / day.

First we went to the Imperial City. A citadel built in 1804-ish. The outer layer of the wall surrounds half the current city. Within that is an old, ancient fortified castle, and within the citadel is the forbidden purple city. The old emperor's fort came complete with 5 temples, a lake, a garden, and a separate area for housing his mother and wife.

That night we had a nice meal on the river front and hung out with the family running our homestay. Southern Vietnamese say Northern Vietnamese people are colder and less friendly. I guess we aren't far enough north yet.

The next day, we ventured through the country by motor bike, in the rain to an old temple, a gorgeous cemetery, and two dramatically large emporer tombs. From one story, it seemed as though the emperors during the 1800s were simply French puppets, so they had time to build these awesome tombs and live there as a quick get away from politics. After seeing them, I'd like to go back for a get away too.

We started coming down with a bad cold at this point so we limped on the bus to Phong Nha that night and loaded ourselves with Advil, vitamin C, and B12, hoping for greener pastures. First time I've been home sick so far. There's nothing like a warm bed and not having to worry about travel when you're sick.

See you in Phong Nha for caves and hikes.

Cheers,

Grant and Danielle

P.S. How to get over a cold in 24 hours: Advil, Vit C, B12, copious amounts of super spicy pho, and even more hot, ginger-lime tea.