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Published: February 7th 2010
Train
We paid a bit extra for the soft sleeper, which was very nice, but it's still sleeping on a train...I (Martin) didn't sleep as much as Staci did the train last night, but as is the case probably for most 6'5'' giants given the same accommodations.
On time, we arrived in Hue to a swarming crowd of the taxi drivers, all wanting to take you to various hotels they were promoting. We "reserved" a guesthouse (Called Halo) and were in communication with them, and they confirmed they would pick us up at the train station. We didn't see anyone with a sign with our name, and we didn't want to set ourselves up for a scam, so we decided to walk. We found a quiet area, looked at the map, found our guesthouse's location, and headed down the main road in the heat.
The walk was a bit longer than we would have liked given this heat, and especially after not being able to find our guesthouse. We knew we were in the right area, but sometimes Lonely Planet (our main travel guide) isn't as accurate as we'd like it to be, or sometimes places move locations. Regardless, it was frustrating. At our wits end, we decided to just go into another guesthouse we knew was recommended and
Stop-and-Go
These spring rolls were amazing... booked our stay with them. That's the nice thing about reserving places around here--nothing is official, so it could turn out bad too, but this time, we weren't committed to the seemingly uncommitted Halo Guesthouse.
Our new place, the Binh Minh Sunrise guesthouse was a bit more expensive, but still cheap. The staff were extremely nice and helpful, and we were glad to get our things settled.
We were hungry, so we decided to try a place we saw walking from the train--Stop-and-Go-Cafe. We enjoyed fresh spring rolls (so yummy!), a tasty tofu dish, and I scarfed down chicken tacos.
One of the main things to see in Hue is to visit the Citadel which surrounds a forbidden city used for emperors and the like. The area was heavily bombed during the war. To get there, we rode on a cyclo, a cycle styled rickshaw commonly found in Vietnam. We hand't taken one in Saigon, or Hanoi, so Hue was our last chance, and we didi it. The driver was definitely friendly, and engaging, but the ride was pretty scary, and Staci wasn't too comfortable (she got the worst seat position, as it's not really made for
Cyclo
Not much protection in one of these, and it feels like you're the one driving...but you're not! It was kinda scary going head-on in a busy intersection in this. But we made it! two people).
We spent an hour and 15 minutes there, which was plenty of time for us, but with it's beauty, one could spend a bit more time there. Our driver peddled us back, and upon arrival, I handed over the previously agreed upon price, and threw in a fresh water bottle as we weren't the lightest load I'm sure he's had to take somewhere. However, he seemed shocked and said the price quoted was only for one person. So, instead of 100,000 dong, he wanted 200,000. I argued with him a bit, but could see it not really going anywhere, and not wanting to just walk away, I gave him the money he wanted, and called it good. It's easy to get worked up in situations like that, but when it all comes down to it, you end up arguing over a few US dollars which probably could help them out more then make you go broke. Who knows, we might have just given him a two week paid vacation!
We relaxed the rest of the evening at the hotel and explored the city's evening offerings...which usually for us consists of food. We found Bode, a vegetarian
Citadel
The grounds inside the citadel. Pretty! restaurant whose main group of customers seemed to be the local Buddhist monks. The food was pretty good, but left us still wanting more, so we walked around and right across the street from our guesthouse we found an older lady selling Phở, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. I've loved it in the States, and it was amazing on the streets where it originated. That's part of the fun in traveling--you get to eat the foods you have loved forever in the most authentic sense.
The lady making/serving the street Phở gave us two big bowls for the price of one. Now we were full. Walking across the street to our guesthouse, we caught glimpse of some homemade pastries, so of course we got a few to take back up to the room.
We probably slept in some pastry crumbs, but it was a lot better than the bumpy train.
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