Blogs from Thua Thien - Huế, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 73

well I have finally left Tam Ky and it was a an emotional last day but i kinda knew that id be going back to pick up the rest of my bags so it wasn't as bad! Felt really strange leaving though because it did become my home but once again i was stepping out alone to do some travelling with no plan really as to where i was headed! my friend lam booked me a bus ticket for nha trang which is about 500 km south of Tam Ky so i was taken by mrs hahn and anh (a guy who came to same goodbye to me, who i taught, but he also helped out at the Home of affection). In true vietnamese style it was an hour late so i stood there having a ... read more

I think this is the first time that I've actually left the real date on an entry! I'll try to make this shorter, but i have so much geography to cover. We'll start with the overnight train to Hue. What was supposed to take 12 hours took about 16, but that's no real surprise in this part of the world! We were travelling with James and Ray, but we couldn't get a sleeper car all together - there were two together and two random tickets. Being the gentlemen they are, they gave Melissa and i the option of sticking together, which we happily accepted. Our "roommates" were a lovely British couple called Katie and Greg, and the six of us passed the first few hours chatting over some beers. It was a pretty cool experience - ... read more

11 August - We arrived in Hue at about 10am and went out quickly for a wander about the old citadel. There's an old palace there, but it's been pretty devestated by bombs what with being close to the demilitarised zone (DMZ). We had lunch in a restaurant as recommended by our friends at the Lonely Planet which is run by a deaf mute (suspiciously there are two of the same at the next two doors on the street) so it was back to pointing and gesturing to order food, I missed that from China. 12 August - We decided to go for a tour of the DMZ. 6am start, not so good. There wasn't a great deal to see as most of the sites had been bombed or otherwise destroyed since the end of the ... read more

The next stop on the itinerary was Hue... Hue was unified Vietnam's capital from 1802 to 1945, during the rule of the emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty. Most of the Imperial city was destroyed during the fighting which followed the Tet offensive in 1968 The walled city also contained the previous home of Ho Chi Min, which we had a wander around in, they love him here. The tour was made more entertaining by my rickshaw driver and his bizarre comments... I'm sure he was the Vietnamese version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Far to much rum, he was completely nuts. The highlight of the Citadel tour for me was the captured USA tanks, heavy Artillery and armoured cars. With no visible security guards around (unusual for Vietnam) we decided to climb into the tanks and get ... read more

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and welcome to Hue… Hue is about half way up, (or down), Vietnam and is the proud owner of the Regal Royal Tombs, (where some royal dead peeps are buried), the ancient Citadel, (the old emperors pad), and some mighty fine countryside not to mention some crazy cool special people. We arrived in Hue quite late in the evening and night fall was upon us. We therefore headed straight to an Indian restaurant for a change of the usual cuisine. Great samosas.. pretty good curry. Then we had alcohol, then bed. Goodnight sweetheart. Goodnight. Sleep tight. The highlight of the next day was a motorbike tour around Hue and the surrounding countryside. I wasn’t driving mind you… May I please take this opportunity to introduce you to Mr Tam. ... read more