Advertisement
Published: September 9th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Never let it be said that I don’t admit when I am wrong. After an uncomfortable 15-hour overnight bus trip, we were by met a swarm of motorcycle taxi-drivers, eager to help relieve us of several thousand dong and take us wherever they wanted. Suspicious of being fleeced, our first instincts were to tell them politely to go forth and multiply. One particularly persistent double act, later to be known as “Ant and Dec”, thrust brochures of a particularly luxurious, modern and cheap hotel under our noses and insisted that even if we didn’t take a room they would still transport us there gratis. Still suspicious, we reluctantly agreed and soon found ourselves being clad with fetching helmets and our considerable luggage being strapped to their little 125cc iron horses. After being warmly greeted by a hotel manager, we loved the hotel and, not only agreed to stay for 2 nights, but also signed up with our diminutive drivers for a $12 city tour of Hue. They were fantastic- their enthusiasm, sense of humour and constant chuckling was infectious- and they managed to transport us safely through the craziness of the Vietnamese traffic. They were trustworthy, cheap and even bartered with
tourist guides on our behalf! I was wrong to think that they would rip us off- although I think we were lucky- we did hear some awful stories about similar scenarios.
The reason we had visited Hue was that it was the nearest city to some of the remaining tunnels dug by the Viet Cong during the war. We had decided that we couldn’t visit Vietnam without seeing the tunnels that we had heard so much about. Hue was reportedly a bland, unremarkable city but we found it a manageable size, calm and had many scenic and historical places of interest. We even got to roll our own incense sticks. Afterwards we felt obliged to buy something but had no need for incense. Our focus moved to a silk purse for Karen (actually 3, inside each other like Russian dolls) which we thought were a bit pricey at £15 so we haggled very hard until we got it for £10. Only upon leaving did we realise that we had got our conversions wrong and that we had bartered from £1.50 down to £1. We felt bad but not bad enough to buy any incense sticks!
That night friendly local bars
were explored with good banter from a group of mid-aged Aussies and an English bird in a backpacker bar who introduced us to mojitos (2 for £1.20). The chat went on late until Karen mysteriously caught incurable hiccups so needed to retire for the night. Fortunately the long hunt for the elusive perfect little summer dress (which had persisted for several weeks) took a positive turn as an offer for a made to measure number was considered. I had sought refuge in a bar across the road and could give opinions (only when asked) by hand gestures. No purchase was made.
The following morning commenced at 8am with a 120km bike ride stuck to the back of Ant or Dec. Karen had developed a headache which apparently was unrelated to the hiccups the previous night. I am learning so much about medicine from her. I am so privileged that she is teaching me so much. Anyway, once the cobwebs were blown away, she realised that a morning on a bike in the sun in a vest top made her look like a barber’s pole by lunchtime. A shirt was borrowed from AntorDec and we progressed to the tunnels which were
well worth the visit- a bit eerie but fascinating and surrounded by bomb craters. Various museums in the area really gave us a feel for the North Vietnam impression of the war, complete with propaganda with each photo. On the way home we rode through an amazing 30-minute tropical storm complete with hot water footbaths each time we went through a puddle! After the storm we stopped off at a roadside café to drink freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. The little lady obviously does this everyday so was a little bemused by our fascination in watching her put the bamboo-like cane through a mangle several times.
As we had an open ticket to catch the bus to Hoi An (4-hours further south) we dispensed with the services of A/D who looked devastated by our decision not to allow them to deliver us south. The bus was far more comfortable than our overnight one and the journey was actually very pleasant. Hoi An is a very pretty, small, touristy town on a river with gorgeous nearby beaches famed for tailors. If I had a pound for every tailor shop in Hoi An I reckon I would have about £500. Probably 80-90%
of all shops were tailors. Each seemed pretty idle and was desperate for trade, beckoning you in every time we passed, and I wondered if the market was saturated. After a few further days of angst, squabbling and deep deliberation, I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT KAREN HAS BOUGHT A SUMMER DRESS!!!!!! It was made to measure from some floral print in about 4 hours and cost the princely sum of £10. Now we can relax and enjoy our trip. It is absolutely beautiful. It is infinitely better than the 17,000 dresses we have assessed and rejected so far (although looks exactly the same). I am considering a career as a frock buyer for M&S upon return to the UK.
Hoi An gave us two firsts; beautiful beaches and beer under 12p. Karen loved the beaches. My affections lay elsewhere. The beaches were deserted with white, powdery sand and hot, clear shallow water. Adjacent to them, however, lay many small beach bars selling plentiful quantities of ice cold, frothy, clear, crisp, cheap beer. Aaahhh, heaven for both of us, just 10 yards apart! As we hired push bikes to access the beaches 3km from the town, not too much refreshment
was consumed. The bikes cost 90p a day to hire. Each had a sloping crossbar, a bell and a basket. I would have been happy to pay a fiver for a heterosexual bike but sadly that was not an option. Cameras were banned on the way home. Sorry folks.
We are now back in Hanoi for a few days. We jumped back into the world of flashpacking with a £25 flight north to prevent an overnight bus trip and are keen to catch the rugby world cup starting today. We are meeting with a couple of Karen’s friends who are visiting Vietnam for the weekend (who live in Hong Kong!) for the England rugby and beers tomorrow. It should be fun as apparently they are a mixed marriage - she is from Nottingham and he is Glaswegian! If we get through the rugby it is off on a 3 day boat trip next week!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0283s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb