Next stop: Hoi An

From Hue I went to Hoi An, where I spent three days. Hoi An is famous for its rather intact old town (a scarcity in war-struck Vietnam). And indeed the old town is really pretty (and full of tourists), was influenced by Japanese and Chinese merchants and only five kilometers outside of the city you have quiet the beach. So it's definitely worth stopping by.

 Dusk at a riverside restaurant

 Rice paddies outside of town (on the way to the beach)

 The beach

 Some goodies for the tourists ;-)

 Well, I got my corny side, too ...

 The old market

 Chinese congregation hall

Japanese bridge

From Hanoi on southwards: Hue

After returning from Sapa I spent another week of Vietnamese lessons in Hanoi. This time I moved to a hotel in the neighborhood of my school, where I could/had to practice what I learned so far. At the end I did one last big city tour on my motorbike to take pictures of my favorite places in the city. Well, unfortunately the battery of my camera was empty and I had left the charging unit with most of luggage at the other hotel in the old quarter. Too bad, so no more pictures of Hanoi.
On Ney year's I left Hanoi for the south and was really looking forward to get to real summer-like weather again.

My first stop (only one day) was in Hue, which was the imperial city of the last dynasty. However, most of it got destroyed in Vietnam's numerous recent wars. It's still worth a stopover but nothing you have to have seen.

 The national school of Vietnam

 The perfume river

 One of the entrances of the old city wall

 Coronation palace

 As I said, it's not much left