Time's running out and I hate it - I could happily explore Vietnam for another 6 months. Now in Hoi An, in the south-east part of the country and one of the few towns in the area to escape significant war damage. As a result (also thanks to restoration work and World Heritage listing) parts of it look much as they would have two centuries ago, and much like the set of a martial arts movie - dark, narrow streets consisting of squat wooden dwellings, Chinese lanterns swaying in the breeze. Enchanting, would be even more so if the clientele of all the bars and restaurants weren't exclusively Western. But without the tourists you wouldn't have the cool stuff, and anyway I'm one, so.
Halong Bay produced a similar feeling - undeniably gorgeous and strange as it is (despite the mist) the tourist scrum at the harbour does put you off a bit. We sailed for a day (not in a junk as it turned out, that was a bit beyond my budget), had a look round 'Amazing Cave' (it does actually live up to the name - weird, H.R.Geiger (designer of 'Alien') -style limestone formations, vast size (the last of the series of three caves must be the size of 2 or 3 concert halls) and a rock that looks like a penis. Unbeatable. The second day was spent kayaking, which was fun, and drifting in silence amongst the huge limestone karsts was special, but it's a bit knackering and uncomfortable for the terminally unfit such as me - for once I actually didn't mind getting ripped off ('all-day kayaking' turned out to be about 2 hours but was a relief to give my back a break).
After a night on Cat Ba island (where everyone goes home from the disco at 11 o'clock, on a Saturday night! Mental) I headed to Hue, the old Imperial capital in the 19th century which had 7 kinds of sh*t knocked out of it by the French and Americans in the 20th. As a result many buildings are now almost completely destroyed, which is a shame as the remaining, obviously Chinese-influenced ones are lovely. See the Ringo page for a few pics.
A sobering correction to my naivety a couple of posts ago - yes, there actually are vehicle accidents here all the time, Vietnam has the 2nd or 3rd highest rate of road deaths in the world. On the way to Halong something horrible happened - a guy on a scooter in front of us hit and then got rolled over by a truck. Must have broken both legs and maybe his spine too, and that was the fifth accident I've either seen or seen the aftermath of in the 2 weeks I've been here. My nerves have gone now, I have to be half-canned not to be convinced I'm about to die when on the back of a moto (as a passenger, you understand). One of the few aspects of British life I'm looking forward to is the slightly saner road conditions.
Off to Saigon tomorrow night, from there into the Mekong Delta region of the south-west for a few days and then, ulp, Blighty...