Hoi An ➡️ Hue

At some point during the three weeks Kath is here, we really wanted to do a first class train journey for a bit of luxury and of course stunning views. We then looked at the prices, and decided against it 😅 we did however book a train from Hoi An through our hostel to Hue, second class and only 4 hours. I asked our host to book us on the right side so we'd get a coastal view, but we ended up on the left! :( Honestly other than that, I couldn't fault the homestay we had in Hoi An, the couple that ran it were so lovely and helpful, our room was great, fab location and cute puppy!
The train ride was interesting... Pretty noisy, very hot as the aircon was temperamental, and lots of stops and starts. We only got glimpses of the gorgeous coastline through cracks between drawn curtains, as all the locals close them to avoid the sun. Safe to say after that trip we'll stick to our buses haha.
We arrived in Hue early afternoon, and it was absolutely boiling!
Later on, we ventured to an old abandoned waterpark that was shut down in 2004 due to financial issues, but in the last 5 years has become an unofficial tourist attraction. Officially you're not meant to go in, but everybody does. We were dropped off by a closed off road and walked 15 mins up the road and along a path hugging a big lake. As we were walking, a huge pier like structure on the water came into view, a head of a dragon at the top and spines and claws spread out, surrounding it. Inside, the walls were covered in graffiti, was a bit dirty and smelly, but expected for a 20 year old abandoned building! The dragon had two floors, and at the top you could look out over the lake through it's mouth.
We crossed the other side of the bridge into the jungle/forest to find three waterslides and a few pools. It was golden hour just before sunset, so the whole area looked stunning. Kath found the whole place a bit spooky but it bought it was really cool. I wanted to climb all the way up one of the slides, but I was in birks, which did not lend themselves to walking on slippy plastic. The park is due to be completely closed and demolished later this year, with some parts already destroyed, so we weren't sure if there were other areas to see.
Content with what we saw, we grabbed some beers from a lady on the path with a cooler on the back of a motorbike, monopilsing on the tourists in the area, and watched the sun disappear behinds clouds for another less than spectacular sunset.
In the evening, it absolutely chucked it down for all of 40 minutes, we sat on a street corner in a bar overlooking the roads as people ran for cover, and motorcyclists impressed us with how many people they could fit under one poncho.
We grabbed some very delicious food, before heading back to the hostel for an early night as we wanted to try to beat the heat tomorrow morning.Read more