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Published: March 5th 2009
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Vietnamese Flag
This was the flag on top of Citadel in Hue The train from Hanoi to Hue was not as expected .We had 1st class tickets which in Thailand would have given us a room to ourselves. Here the room has 4 bunks and unfortunately we ended up sharing a room that was 6 by 6 with 2 Vietnamese Business men who did not speak English. The fellow above me had some kind of sinus thing so he made horrible snorting noises all night. The train itself was very dirty and Alison the bathrooms were no better than ours in Thailand. Actually riding 2nd class in Thailand was better as you had some privacy curtains there. I slept with my cloths on and left without bothering to wash up as I could not use the washroom facilities.
We arrived in Hue about 8:30 in the morning and could immediately see the difference. This town saw a lot of war damage, so most of it has been rebuilt. The streets are wider and there were actually wide sidewalks so walking was much easier. Since we are only here 1 day we cleaned up in our room and started to walk to The Citadel. We were approached by many cyclo drivers
Street in Hue
Because this city was so heavily bombed the streets are wider with parks that allow for much easier walking. The area is now very beautiful.The landscaping and parks show that they are in the process of rebuilding this area.You see alot of construction of the infostructure all the way through Vietnam. and kept saying no, but we had one persistent fellow that Ron finally gave into and told him to meet us at the Citadel at 1:30. After that he followed us everywhere. We actually found a KFC and had a great lunch. While we were eating he was outside waving at us. He followed all the way to the Citadel and we did not get out until about 3, we figured he would be gone but no there he was he said he had been sleeping in the shade waiting for us. After some ridiculous negotiations(yes, AJ your Dad and I have fought in Vietnam),we definitely did not get the best price, I think we paid about 10 times more than it was worth. Cyclo here have only 1 seat so he had to get a friend to help, and Ron and I went it different cyclos to the room. This guy hung out around our hotel all day every time we left he was there .He refused any money offered again. He took us to restaurant for dinner waited outside until we were done ,Greeted us with candy afterwards and then he drove us all over the city .He
Citadel
This was where the Vietnamese put all their armoury trying to protect it. Unfortunately for the people of Hue it just guaranteed that they were bombed every second day and literally destroyed most of the area. had rigged up a board so Ron sat higher on the seat and me on the seat, it was quite cozy and actually very romantic evening. I had the best meal here; it was a French/Vietnamese restaurant, so I even had red wine with dinner. Ron took the cyclo driver for beer earlier in the day and he was telling him about the war. He was not old enough to remember it but from his parents story apparently they bombed there every second day because the Vietnamese had put their entire armory around the Citadel to protect it. We had a great day with our chauffeur and left thinking that Hue is a very beautiful city.
Early the next morning we went to Hoi An by bus. As in the past nothing happens the way you expect. We thought we were taking local transit to Hoi An and our bus was to leave at 8:30. They told us to be downstairs for pickup to the bus station at 7:00 have breakfast and then they would take us to the bus station. Time went on and after 8:30 we were getting very concerned, I spoke to the person
Destroyed property
This was in the park directly in front of the Citadel ,it looks now like it is a place of worship and preserved the way it is at the desk and she said not to worry they were coming. Since we have learnt that this does happen we waited. Guess what a bus appeared loaded with people, we got on never did get to the station and when we arrived we ended up at another hotel which tried to convince us to stay there. Instead for a small fee we got them to phone a taxi which took us to our hostel.
We arrived at the best place ever. Hai Au Hotel was wonderful. The ladies at the front could not do enough for us. They had a pool and French doors in our room which looked out to a balcony over the pool. Our whole stay with them was great, I hated to go. The town itself was very old .We saw some of the most amazing things that the people here put on motorcycles ,unfortunately every time we saw one we did not have a camera. First it was a large basket about 4 feet wide and about 1 foot tall with about 10 live chickens in it, strapped to the back of a motorcycle. The best was we were walking on the
street and 2 motorcycles came by with 5 foot long round baskets strapped to the back, and there was full sized live pigs stuffed into them.I cannot possibly figure out how they can drive a bike with these things on the bikes.
When I was here I went to a tailor shop and got a summer dress, top and linen pants made. Ron got a shirt and shorts. It was great to actually get something that fits so perfectly. I also went to a shoe shop and got custom made shoes, which was such a novelty I could not resist. The best was we found a shop that made bathing suits; I finally found something that can cover my unusual size. All this for about $150.
On our 2nd day we went on a tour of some ruins that were from the Cham Dynasty. I one time they were 70 towers and it was similar to Ankor Wat. However during the war, they were bombed and most were destroyed. When we went there they even had a couple of the bombs on display that destroyed these ancient ruins. This is now a world heritage site, and
Bridge across the moat
Can you imagine bombs going off repeatly around this place.Hue was the ancient Imperial city of Vietnam; it featured a Forbidden City much like the one surviving in China, laid out along the exact same plans. It stood through the French War, and multiple conflicts with the Chinese, before the Viet Cong holed up there in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive, forcing U.S. Marines to go door-to-door; in one of the most pitched battles of the war, the Marines ended up calling in artillery fire, laying waste to an area that is still being restored today.
the Vietnamese are trying to restore it as much as they can. I have decided that I would like to read more about the war as some of the things that were destroyed by bombs just do not make sense to me. You can still see the huge craters that were left by the bombs. The jungle here is very dense; I can only imagine what else is in there that has not been found yet. When the first person came upon these ruins it must have been very exciting.
We have decided to shorten our trip in Vietnam, after a while things all look the same so we booked a flight for Ho chi Ming City for the next day. We spent the evening walking and happened to run into the couple that we met on pour Halong Bay cruise so we stopped and had a couple drinks with them. The travel world around here is very small, we have run into the same people several times indifferent cities, considering there are over 80 million people here not including tourists that is pretty amazing.
Our last day in Hoi An we rented bicycles and rode all
Koi
Inside the citadel they had ponds on both sides full of Koi. Ron took this shot when I fed the fish. over picking up my stuff at the tailors and shoe makers. It was actually easier riding a bike in the traffic than walking.We had a great morning, even went into the countryside on our bikes. Then it was time to go ,I can honestly say that I will miss Hoi An. The town had a romance to it that I cannot explain and when I think of Vietnam this will definitely be a highlight.
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