Advertisement
Published: March 11th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The bus to Hue took about four hours. Along the way we stopped inexplicably at the Marble Mountains for a good 20 minutes, and then again after two hours for a toilet break. At the second stop, a tour bus of older english women had just unloaded and they were having a terrific time at the souvenier shop. With the way they were throwing around dollars, it's amazing anyone is able to buy stuff in Vietnam for a reasonable price. I'm being completely serious when I say that I saw a woman buy a necklace for $30 without batting an eye, or even bothering to bargain at all. Mickan and I consulted and decided the necklace was worth no more than $2. The woman even had the nerve to ask "is it good quality?" to which the man selling it replied "only the best." My god, where do these people come from? The rest of the ride went by fairly quickly and we soon pulled in to Hue.
As we got off the bus, we (actually it was just Mickan) were mobbed by hotel touts. They kept trying to point out where there hotel was in the lonely planet and
Mickan negociates
They were crazy for business and throwing around absurd offers for rooms. Too bad they were all lies! it actually turned into a hilarious scene. After a little bit, they started throwing around absurd prices for the rooms. One guy said $2 and so we followed him back to his hotel, where, of course, we found that the room was a lot more than $2. We promptly walked out and went next door where we found a room for $5.
We settled in and then went to explore the city. We walked through the old backpacker area, but it looked completely dead so we were happy to have ended up on the new street. Everywhere we looked, people were burning piles of paper and fake money in the streets. It's traditional for Tet, but it sure creates a lot of smoke everywhere you go. We walked across the river and checked out the Citadel for a while before crossing back to the other side of the river. We found a riverside cafe that was full of locals so we sat enjoying a drink before heading back to the guest house to get some food. The backpacking street had about 5 guesthouses and 2 restaurants, so it's a really tiny place. Both of the restuarants were good, though
National pride
It's hard to make out, but there are two types of flags: the star, and then the hammer and sickle so we never really ventured elsewhere. However, service at one of them was painfully slow so you had to be prepared to wait almost an hour for dinner. Not so shocking at a fancy French restaurant, but places like this usually get you your food in about 5-10 minutes.
That night, following local advice, we went across the river to watch the fireworks that rung in the lunar new year. We wandered through the citadel for a bit before finding a spot near the river with a great view of the flag pole where the fireworks were supposed to appear. It turned out to be one of the better shows that I've seen, and it lasted for a good 20 minutes before abruptly stopping. It was a bit different from shows at home, which tend to build to a dramatic finish. This one maintained relatively the same level of intensity throughout and so when it was over you were left wondering if there was more coming. Of course all the locals knew when it was done and they started leaving immediately making for an interesting walk back.
When we arrived back at the guest house we found several
guests and some of the employees sitting around a table eating snacks and drinking vodka. We were immediately asked (dragged by the arm, almost) to join and it turned out to be a great night. I'll just say that there was a lot of drinking while the vodka was being finished, but once that was gone a 1.5 liter bottle of home-made rice wine was brought out. The stuff smelled foul, but was surprisingly easy to drink. By the time that was gone, everyone was quite drunk and I went upstairs and promptly passed out.
The next morning was blessedly hangover free and after eating some food we decided to rent bikes to see the Citadel again. We rode over and then went inside the palace, which was pretty cool. It's unfortunate that a lot of it was destroyed during the war, though. No one mentions which side destroyed it, so I suspect both sides had a role in it. It was brutally hot, so we spent a couple hours there and then rode around a bit more before deciding to just head back for a bit of a siesta.
That evening ended up being very similar to
Cool lamp
In the citadel the night before. An israeli guy, who was one of the heavier drinkers the night before, proposed another night of rice wine drinking so there were now 3 liters of wine to be consumed. When we joined the group the party was in full swing and there were some seriously heavy drinkers present. Sweeping generalization time: it's difficult to keep up with eastern europeans when it comes to drinking. In fact, there were 5 polish people and they didn't seem fazed at all by the massive amount of alcohol consumed. I felt bad for one of the vietnamese guys as they had to carry him over behind the desk after he passed out. Unfortunately, I succomed about 12 and went upstairs while the party was still in full swing.
The next morning I DID have a hangover and I felt like doing absolutely nothing. So, Mickan grabbed a bike and saw some temples while I sat around watching tv and napping. We had tickets to go to Hanoi that evening, so after some food we hopped on the bus and that was it for Hue.
Stay tuned for Hanoi.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.174s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.1218s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb