Hue

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Since the bus cost about 5 times less than the train and was actually faster, we decided this was how we would travel Viet Nam. So we set out one April evening in Hanoi to embark on our first 13 hour overnight bus journey. I will say now that I am never amazed at the compassion of foreign drivers. This kind man, realising we were British, went out of his way to accomodate us by driving as often as possible on the left side of the road. Not only that but he also drove at breakneck speeds, in all lanes of traffic, round blind bends and mountainside passes just to ensure we arrived bright and early for breakfast. And only twice did we have to emergency stop to avoid a head on collision - my hat off to you sir! My gratitude changed sharply however at 5.30am, when an already troubled sleep was rudely disturbed by the arrival of kareoke. Not just kareoke, but kareoke at full volume. It dawned on me that something so evil could only have begun in Japan as some kind of POW torture somehow grew in popularity and infested itself across the Asian continent to the dismay of unsuspecting travellers. Nobody in fact was singing along. Nobody in fact protested. Perhaps the insane volume of music so terrible was all that was keeping our driver awake, or perhaps he was actually insane, I'll never know.

After a long nap and a hearty breakfast we set out to explore the old citadel of Hue. The ancient capital until 1945, the city was damaged by the French and then conclusively destroyed by the Americans. The national flag flies proud above the city from what I thought I heard as being the largest flagpole in Viet Nam. Burnt out American tanks line the streets in a reminder to the tragic events only some 27 years ago.

Hue was much smaller and laid back than Hanoi - you didn't have to fear for your life crossing the street. A small cluster of bars in the centre served as our base for the next few nights where we drank cheap Hanoi and Tiger beer. The following day Nick and I went on a boat ride down the river, incorporating the ruins of several temples along the way. Everything was much more peaceful as we chugged on lazily down the river. At one stop we saw the car that the buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc drove to Saigon in to famously set himself on fire in protest of the southern regime. The iconic photo later became the album cover for Rage Against The Machine's self titled album.

At one bar we saw an American being tattoed with an inscription he thought was saying "remember to breathe" but actually said remember to "breath". We didn't tell him. Later we went to a bar we had been promised was the "hip centre of Hue", but after a 15 minute walk down a dark road, we found we were the only people there (and the drinks were expensive). Having seen what we wanted to of the area we booked a bus to nearby (in relative terms) Hoi An where we would spend the next few nights.

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Comments

[rob mitchell]

new t-shirt for nick?
nick's changed out of his hard rock t-shirt. meeeeuuugghhhhhhhh

[Danielssan]

We had exactly the same thing on our 37 hour train journey from Agra to Margaon in Goa. It was long. Those singers. I'm still wondering if you're banging cocks. Bon Chance