Posted by Karbo We'd booked our flight from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh a few weeks in advance since we'd heard that transportation options get booked up very quickly around Tet. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the early evening and checked into the Silverland Hotel, which was the nicest hotel we stayed in while in Vietnam because we wanted to be closer to our friends who were also in HCMC, Tanya and Jason!
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Posted by Jason We hired a private car ($15 one way) to take us from Hoi An to Da Nang, from there we took the 10-hour train ride to Nha Trang. Fortunately they were serving food on the train, because the cookies we bought at the train station did not satisfy our hunger at all.
Posted by Jason Upon arriving in Hoi An, we immediately noticed how pretty the city is. Its streets are lined with lanterns and shiny, wooden store signs. Out of all the cities we've visited in Vietnam so far, this is easily the best packaged for visitors. We enjoyed walking through the very well preserved old city centre, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Because cars are prohibited in the city centre, all we had to watch out for were bicyclists, cyclos, and motorcyclists. Traditional Vietnamese architecture dominates the streets, but because of Hoi An's role as a major trading post from the 16th to the 18th century, many Japanese and Chinese citizens settled here and created communities of their own, and their influences are visible all over town.
Posted by Karbo One of the first things we do when we arrive in a new city is browse through the activities and attractions listed on TripAdvisor. When we arrived in Hue, I was surprised to see that the top-ranked activities all involved motorbike tours; it turns out that the route between Hue and Hoi An is one of the most scenic in Vietnam.
We'd never even considered going on a motorbike tour but after reading the rave reviews on TripAdvisor, we contacted Hue Adventures and ended up booking a 2-day 1-night motorbike tour from Hue to Hoi An. Posted by Jason We took an overnight train from Hanoi to Hue. The ride took longer than scheduled and we arrived at Hue at around 11:30am. Our hotel, Holiday Diamond Hotel, sent someone to pick us up and he patiently waited despite the delay. Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945, before the communist government took over. During its 200 years as the capital, it also started to evolve itself into a culinary hub. Few dishes that originated from Hue can be found elsewhere in Vietnam, and only one dish is internationally known (i.e. Bun Bo Hue). Most of its popular , such as Com Hen and Banh Khoai, can only be found in Hue, so we made a point to sample as much of the local cuisine as possible!
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