Catching up with pictures

Hospital Caves, Cat Ba

Hospital Caves, Cat Ba

Tour guide hiding above the "training" area where soliders practiced running low with their guns to snag my sunglasses off my head.  I wouldn't make a very good soldier. 

Outside Hospital Caves, Cat Ba

Motorbiking around Cat Ba

Motorbiking around Cat Ba

Cat Ba beach

Sleeper bus to Hue - we were the first people on the bus, it did indeed fill up.

I thought it'd be fun to take this picture outside Tu Duc tomb in Hue.  

After seeing me, so did this guy.

Pretty doors at Tu Duc tomb, Hue
(By the way, Hue was where we were largely cameraless so we did a lot more sightseeing there than is captured on film.)

Still Tu Duc

Tu Duc

Gate near Tu Duc tomb

One of the amazing meals we ate in Hue.  Hue has been my (Cambria's) favorite place for food so far.  Lots of wrap your own meat and veggies in rice paper (not pictured here).

Our ridiculously nice $28 hotel in Hoi An (a slight splurge compared to the $20 places we have been staying).  If only they had places like this in middle America (where we recently spent much more for much cruddier places).

Night festival in Hoi An.

Hoi An is ridiculously cute.  Lots of colonial French buildings.  It's super touristy, full of tailor shops and handmade shoes, but super cute.  This was our morning walk today when it was nice and quiet out.  As a side note, we have eaten many gelatinous desserts here: Banh Dap (well, this is actually soft, gooey rice paper sandwiched in crunchy thin rice cake), Che Me Den (black sesame pudding), Che Bap (corn pudding) and Ban Flan (flan covered in coffee and ice - yum!) 

Hoi An

Our delicious lunch - first fish meal - on the beach in Hoi An.  We had a large grilled fish, a side of rice, two large beers and a Sprite for 147,000 dong (slightly less than $7.50) and this was one of our more expensive meals.  Yesterday's lunch was two bowls of the local noodle dish, Cua Loa, for a total of 40,000 dong (~$2) and tonight we had two servings of chicken rice for dinner (Nongs dish for those of you who have been to her cart in Portland) for a total of 60,000.

Water buffalo in gorgeous fields, Hoi An