Things that annoy me most..people with no spatial awareness!

Hello all,

I great you from our new guesthouse - Phong Nha hotel, for the next couple of days in Hue. We have just arrived from our 10hr bus journey from Ninh Binh. Now, i'm cool with buses and can generally sleep as soon as we set off. Oh no, that wasn't to be while i had a man sitting next to me who thought it perfectly acceptable to practically lie on me. First he lent against me but soon progressed to resting his head on my shoulder! I kept shrugging him off but he didn't seem to get the message. If this wasn't bad enough he put his feet up on kelly and Emilys chairs!! I moved at my earliest opportunity using that my chair didn't move back as the reason as not to offend (after all i was going to be stuck on a bus with this guy for another 8 hrs.) When i had moved a seat forward he still felt it fine to rest his foot so it was nearly in my face....nice!

We spent a few days in Ninh Binh as i explained in my last entry. We went on the day trip to Tam coc. This is definately the reason to stop by Ninh Binh as the scenery we saw was breathtaking and correctly described as some of the best in Nam.

We left at 8.30am for Tam coc. We took a rowing boat along the Ngo Dong river amoung the rice fields and three grottoes (caves which we went through). Lucy and i were in one boat and the other two in another. Our rowers were an 18 year old girl who took the side paddle and her Auntie who was in her 40's who took the main rows. She was a true pro and like all of the other ladies was adept at rowing with her feet!

It was quite chilly as we went along the river through the limestone rocks that surrounded us and through the caves...which i nearly banged my hed on several times! The views were stunning. When we got back on dry land we were taken to the Thai Vi temples which were dedicated to the 4 Kings in the tran Dynasty in the 13th Centry.

After this we encountered a bit of a technical hitch. Simce we had driven through in the morning the only road out had been dug up! A hole about a metre wide and 10 metres long was now a slight hinderance. Our driver and guide took us back to a nearby restaurant and loaded the minibus up with logs. Surely they are not going to try and build a bridge...oh yes they are. We amused ourself by running races and dressing up emily in all our clothes and bags (such children)as we were told to stay in the reastaurant grounds. Curiousity got the better of me and i had to go and see the bridge building. I arrived to see the mini bus half way over pracariously balanced on about 4 logs for each side of the bus. I went to get the others but by the time we made it back they had successfully got the van over. It was some sort of miricle. I couldn't believe how resourceful they had been!

From here we went onto the Bich Dong Pagodas, they were called Chua Ha, Chua Trung and Chua Thuong. They were positioned up the mountainside, each one being further up. Each one has its seperate sections to pray in and are decorated beautifully.

After lunch we then drove to Kenh Ga where we went on a motor boat trip along Hoang Long river (King dragon river) where we were surrounded by limestone mountain scenery and rice paddies. We saw the locals preparing the fields for the new crop and small children pilled into a boat that it was nearly sinking whilst we sailed through the village and were let through the lock.

Unfortunately due to the bridge building incident we didn't make it to the hot springs which was a shame.

The evening was then spent waiting for the bus to Hue.

I am now in my 2nd day in Hue. On the first day, while the others slept off the bus journey i decided to take a walk around. First off i checked out the local vacininity, lots of clothes shops and even a shoes shop called 'Tina's Shoes!' I then took a walk to Notre Dam Cathedral (Dong Chua Cuu The). On my way i was asked if i wanted a motorbike or cyclo every few seconds. One particular guy chatted to me for ages and tried to persuade me to try out getting on the back of a motorbike when i expressed my fear. Thuan (the motorbike man) said he would take me to the Catherdral for free to try it out. I declined and after hearing all about his family made my own way there on foot. The catherdral was beautiful, very modern but quite so structure! The local school was across the road and Thuan was there collecting one of his 4 children (well he has 3 and one is due in the NY). The kids all crowded around me and some asked my name and told me theirs. It was so sweet. To get the crowd from around me I told them to get together and took a picture and showed them. After saying goodbyes and waving lots i headed back to the Hotel...not before i bought tinsle to add to our christmas collection!

We are staying opposite one of the recommended bars in Lonley Planet, 'Cafe on Thu wheels' It is really small but loads of character as the walls are all graffitied and so are the Jenga blocks that we played with (I beat lucy!). This was the start of a very messy night. We moved onto the why not bar and then a place where we danced called Brown eyes. We were promised a good western crowd but at its busiest there was 2 other westerners and a handful of locals! I fell asleep on one of the benches and let the girls continue partying till 6.30am Eventually we got to bed about 7.30.

So today has been a bit of a washout as the weather has been cold and wet. We made the most of it by buying lovely cakes and getting tea on room service! Off to the market a bit later.

Tomorrow we plan to hire motorbikes and a driver to see the sights of Hue and then move onto Hoi an on Monday.

TTFN, all my love

T x