Leaving Hue - Flying North to Hanoi

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26 feb - Wednesday


Up fairly early 0600 hrs, need to redistribute our baggage for the flight to Hanoi, as on arrival we go straight to Sa Pa by Sleeper train for 3 days trekking near the Chinese Border. We will leave all but essentials in Hanoi.We are both paranoid about heights and are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't have to traverse too many rope bridges, could just be too exciting for the pair of us.



In the hours before our flight, we took a walk through Hue's market area, Dong Bu, which lies to the South East of the Citadel. All manner of grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, including raw meats being butchered. Plenty of pig's trotters, snouts and all sorts of unidentifiable bits being hawked. We are still amazed by the fact that dysentery, diarrhoea and food poisoning aren't more apparent, given the poor hygiene and Butchery technics we have seen.



We are cooling our heels prior to departure in the DMZ bar, where staff are encouraged to engage customers in conversation to the point of tedium, that's why Leo has retreated to writing the Blog, whilst Paula does her best to avoid eye contact with the many pedlars, but still fascinated by people watchIng.



Caught our flight to Hanoi, arriving early to poor natural light and grey misty skies, not very inspiring first impressions. Taxi dropped us off at A Viet Tourism office where we paid the balance of the tour cost and dumped all the baggage we won't need for the next four days and nights. Just had to check about whether we will encounter any scary rickety suspension bridges on our treks (note to Alf), and after we are assured not, we start to relax and look forward to the itinerary. Night sleeper to Sa Pa leaves at 2100 hrs, we hope it's at least of the standard of our Da Nang train. We really need to be able to sleep with several days of Hill trekking ahead. We will let you know!



Tip of the Day: After touring the market today, we absolutely recommend that any fish or meat meals you order, ensure it's well-cooked and hot!

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