Day 8 Hoi An - Hue

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Great plans to wake up early to make it to Cau Dai beach...as all plans do, we need the sleep. Morning agenda is to get the dresses and look around in the market a bit. I love my dresses, Tupur not so much. We shop around and look around a little bit and then head for the hotel to pack up and check out. The bus is supposed to pick us up from the hotel at 1.45 and Tupur gets a quick pedicure from next door for 30 dongs. We familiarise ourselves with Hue and hotel locations. And thank goodness for that because the trip was about to start. Our bus arrived and then the scam began. This was no big bus with toilets and great seat as promised by us. It was a mini bus with small seats and not enough luggage space to take our luggage. Neither was it a non stop bus to Hue which would make us reach Hue by 4.30 pm. It was more like a mini bus service which would go round and round picking up people first in Hoi An and then in Danang. We should have had a clue when they slashed prices for us from 5$ to 3$. Well, its not a long journey and the good sides (because I was trying to keep a frame of mind which would stop me from really getting upset about being lied to) - we travel with the locals, and we can open the windows to take photographs. The bus fills up slowly till we are wondering how they can pile up anymore people.

The way to Hue is breathtaking, through waters and mountains. Everyone had told us that this was one of the most scenic parts of Vietnam, and so it was. Mountains and waters, in fogs in sillhoettte. Villages and roads. Vietnam roads are good - I wonder why Indian roads cant be as good. We go through a huge tunnel - 18 kms long, must be right through the mountains. The train line hugs the road and carries on beside us.

By the time we reach Hue, its already 6 o clock, and the bus stops promptly in front of a hotel - which seems like a bit of a distance from the centre of the city where we would like to go to stay. I told you it was a good thing that we studied the Hue map a little bit in the afternoon. We weave our way out of the touts trying to sell rooms to us and move out trying to figure out where we are. Le Loi is the street we have to get to as we understood. We are told we are quite close, but actually not so close. We hail down a Mai Linh Taxi and get to the riverside and on Le Loi. Hotels abound and we quickly find very nice rooms with a queen size bed and a single bed and nice windows and a balcony overlooking the road below. We settle for 16 dollars with breakfast.

After a quick shower we head out as we NEED FOOD. Quickly we find a stall on this side of the bridge and jump into having really oily meats - sausages, and buns and all kinds of meatballs etc. though it tastes awesome in the beginning - its actually quite yuck and beyond a point once we lose the edge fo hunger we realise how horrible the food actually is. And it was not cheap. So we walk off across the neon lit bridge towards the Imperial city area. There is a small mall on the other side, where we find a place which sells us some ice cold coffee and tea, which we badly need. There is some supermarket shopping to be done, and we head out towards the Imperial City. Its late but its nice to walk down these dark streets, and there seems to be quite a few places to stay here too. And many many food stalls selling really good stuff - we were fools to have jumped at the first stall that served us hot food. We also feel we need some beer to cut off the grease from our stomache and balance it. Huda - the Hue beer is 8 dongs in Lac Than restaurant - a small place with a deaf owner who smiles a lot. This place and the next one were recommended by LP. Food seems cheap there. And the beer cold and good. By the time we are heading back Sanaa is really tired and its time for her to sleep. We take our first Cyclo ride in Vietnam and its a fun ride, though the driver seemed to have quite a task over the Bridge. But Sanaa loves it and he had agreed to take all of us for 15 dongs back to the hotel. Tomorrow is early check out so that we can make the most of our one day in Hue.

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Photos

As we have our breakfast in the patisserie
Did I tell you that they have amazing stuff here?

Sanaa and Babla pour over the menu
The huge breakfast and the amazing cakes were a huge hit with all of us. Tran Phu is the street you look for this shop.

The Scene from Hoi An to Hue
This stretch was by far some of the most interesting landscapes we saw in our entire travels in Vietnam.

The waters and the mountains
The combination of the sea and the mountains on either side of our bus was mindblowing. The only reason why we did not regret the ramshackle mini bus. It allowed us to open windows and take snaps.

Cyclos!!
We were to experience this here for the first time

Lipton tea in Vietnam
Either this or the Vietnamese tea...you could spend hours sipping either.