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Historical, hands on Hue!
We hopped about a little bit with our blogs, trying to bring you the more important news first. Now we are out of hospital, fay is on the mend, and we are just about ready to leave Vietnam. So Now we will try and convey some more of this beautiful country to you.
After our rushed departure from Hoi An, we departed for Hue (this time in a comparitively comfortable seated bus!). Our ambitious timetable in Vietnam means we have allowed ourselves 2 nights, but only one day, in Vietnams historic former capital.
By the time we arrive the neon lights of night time in the city are already sparkling. Filling the panoramic windows of our city view room. Luckily for us, Phil gets thirsty waiting for Fay to get ready! His thirst leads him to a bar, where he stumbles upon a fantastic tour for us to take the next day!!
A motorbike tour, which Chris admits he was secretly aprehensive about before setting out! It turned out to be a great day. Not only did we get to see some amzing sights, we also got to try some new
things! Half way between visiting yet another Japanese bridge and a pagoda, cruising through the rice paddies we encounter a road block! The rice farmers had commandered the road with some strange machienes, which spit out the chaf and retain the rice grain. This allows Chris and Phil to try their hands at rice farming.
The boys pick up the bales of rice and toss them in to this funny machiene, to the delight of the sun-baked farmers. The farmers enjoy a five minute break, while the boys get hot a itchy!! Chris and Phil clear the bales and the road is passible again!
We see some interesting sights on the rest of the trip. Not least when Phil becomes the official photographer for a Vietnamese couple, who clearly pretend to pray amongst buddist monks at a pagoda! The couple make him take copious amounts of photos, and barely aknowledge him as he hands back their camera!
The tour was great value, even just for the ride through the countryside, seeing the families in the villages and the farmers in the fields. We end the tour at Hue's famous citadel, former home of the Nguyen Dynesty.
The brash charm of the Chris and Phil earns them their second hands on experience of the day. This time they take the tired, elderly cyclo drivers for a spin in their own Cyclo!
All four of us have a great day on the bikes, especially fay (see photos of fay riding no handed!). By the time we reach the citadel, a red mark on Fay's leg is making it slightly difficult for her to walk.....
Riding the Reunification Express
Seen as one of the most important symbols of a joining of North and South Vietnam, the "reunification express" spans the entire length of the country. Well 1400 kms of it, between Saigon and Hanoi! The importance of the reconnection of the rail network is hard to grasp for people our age, without a full understanding of the war. Nevertheless, our guidebook says the journey is worth it for the views alone.
After our full day In Hue we are booked on to the 7 am train to Hanoi. A 13 hour journey, we board with plenty of provisons! (see Fays trolley). "Reunification" is not really a word of any importance to the Vietnamese commuters
or holidaymakers on the train today. The Vietnamese trains of today carry ordinary people, doing mundane trips across country. Just past Hue a family with a very small baby boards. Fay keeps the baby entertained for the next few hours! Or should that be, the baby keeps Fay entertained?!
Chris' book of choice, Tim Page's "'Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden," leads us to expect a far more primitive train than the one that greets us at Hue station. Our soft seated cabin is comfortable, but slightly mistreated by it's Vietnamese occupants. Our carriage even has "the family stone" on widescreen tv. After expecting to be roughing it, the luxury afforded to us on the train is almost a disappointment!
The views for the first few hours are impressive, but as night falls they become nothing short of spectacular! A thunderstorm errupts out of nowhere, forks of lightning shoot across the sky, and wind and rain batters the train. It's great to watch, but our arrival in Hanoi is made slightly less comfortable by the rain!
Hanoi, a brief introduction!
We arrive in hanoi for what would have been a brief stay. Instead our
arrival at 8pm served only as a brief introduction. An introduction to a place that, for Chris and Fay at least, would be our home for over a week. Our arrival in Hanoi is made even less pleasant by another bent taxi driver. Who takes us two miles south of where we want to go, only to pass the train station again on the way!
*** Note to any traveller to Vietnam; the four of us have decided - to keep your sanity, when you get in a taxi don't take a map with you! It's not worth the frustration of knowing someones robbing you! ***
What makes the taxi ride even more frustrating; is that we are dropped off ages away from where we asked to be, in the pouring rain, with an injured Fay. The situation gets worse when we can't find the hotel we booked. Tired and frustrated, we settle for the first place we see, an overpriced and quite uncomfortable place, for the night!
Its amazing what another bad night and another bad experience can do to you. Our cynicism and dislike of other human beings, at this point, is frightening. All taxi
drivers, and general passers by are treated with mistrust. The mistrust is Probably only half deserved.
British manners and general common decency are lacking here. Fay is constantly shoved out the way, and while she was in hospital a man pushes his moped backwards into Chris. With not even a hint of remorse he jumps on his bike and rides away! These occurances happen so frequently that we have come to the conclusion that we must be the problem!!
Nevertheless, the plan is only one full in this city before our three days in Ha Long Bay. This being Monday all museums of interest are closed, apart from the museum of literature. It's interesting, but none of us are really engaging with the place. We all look rather travel worn. Hanoi, much like Ho Chi Minh City, has rubbed us up the wrong way. We are all looking forward to our escape to Ha Long Bay.......
Captain Ari! Oh yeah and the sideshow that is Ha Long Bay!
We Instantly knew our trip to Ha Long Bay would be an entertaining one, when we are introduced to the group we will spend the next
Tu Duch's Pad!
for his 102 wives and many other mistresses!three days with. Amongst the group is Ari, aged 6 almost 7 - a fact he proudly emphasises! His direct honesty and curiosity captivated the group from start to finish.
Oh yeah, the Ha long bay part of the trip was also interesting!
After a 3 hour bus journey from Hanoi we board our "junk" (wooden ship) where we will be staying for the first night. The junk is comfortable, but not quite as luxurious as the more pricey ships we float past.
Fay's leg is really playing her up by this stage, despite this she bravely powers through the day. Her bravery is rewarded with spectacular views.
The scenery is reminissent of krabi, but at a much larger scale, much more beautiful and much more awe-inspiring.
Following a brief stop at the aptly named "Amazing Cave," we drop anchor for the night. This allows us time for a swim, or a DOGGY PADDLE in Fay's case! We swim over to the jagged shore of a small island, Fay makes it over with her life ring 10 minutes later!
Phil finds the detached shell of a ghost crab, which later becomes Captain Ari's hat!
We have a great day, and watch a near perfect sunset before tucking in to some dinner to round off the day.
We wake up to a beautiful view of dozens of towering rocky cliffs, our "junk" boat chuggs back to life and we begin to glide along the calm morning waters. Our last meal on board is being prepared upstairs. Even the promise of food, and the stupendous views can't dampen our desire for sleep! It takes all our energy to show our faces above deck! We are not alone - Cat and Phil nearly miss breakfast entirely!
Before we bore you too much we will leave you with the pictures of Hue and Ha Long Bay!!
P.s. Enjoy the warm weather at home!
Chris and Fay x
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mum
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love the pictures, well chris you must have fay trained well her with a shopping basket lol, you both look great , take care enjoy your next stop over, love mum, dad, scott, xxx