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Published: March 10th 2011
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We arrived in sleepy Hue (pronounced Hu-wey) on Saturday afternoon and within 5 minutes of arriving, I had a slightly embarrassing incident when I decided to get stroppy with the manager of the wrong hotel about our booking (which he obviously knew nothing about!) Another of my now regular 'Basil Fawlty' moments. We eventually realised that we were in the wrong place, apologised and left!
Our actual guesthouse is run by a little family who can't do enough to help. When we arrive they sit us down and give us a bowl of homemade soup, before we even see our room. This soon becomes a theme and they offer us snacks and drinks every time we walk through the reception!
Unfortunately Hue itself isn't the most exciting place we've been to. The main attraction is the grand Citadel that was home of the emperor in the 19th Century. Natural disasters and those pesky American bombs have taken the shine off it over the years, however it's been a UNESCO World Heritage site since the early nineties so it's slowly being restored. It's still an impressive site and worth a look, however we're beginning to feel a bit 'templed out'
and leave after about an hour of strolling around the grounds.
We leave Hue a couple of days later, by taking the overnight sleeper to the capital city of Hanoi. We ask our guesthouse to book us a taxi to the train station - they instead decide to book us a 'Silo' - a kind of tuk tuk, where the passenger sits in the front and a person pedals from behind. Clio and I, plus 4 heavy bags, sit precariously at the front of the vehicle as the poor guy pedals us slowly to our destination. When we arrive at the train station our driver/pedlar looks shattered. He keeps saying 'hot day, hot day' as way of explanation. We know he really wants to say 'You heavy b*****s!!'.
I was secretly quite excited about the train journey, but I know Clio was a little bit nervous about the level of cleanliness. We booked a 4 berth carriage which we have all to ourselves for the first few hours. The sun is setting and we actually have a fantastic view from our window. Clio's concerns about the hygiene is justified when a cockroach scuttles past her head. Uh oh,
this could be a long night.
Before we can freak out too much, the train stops and we're joined by our carriage mates, a Vietnamese family. Dad, Mum and small boy. Clio and I lie on our bunks and read, whilst the family chatter away loudly and listen to their music (imagine Celine Dion singing in Vietnamese). Then suddenly, they climb into their bunks and go to sleep. So we switch the lights off and do the same. Despite the fact you're being thrown all over the place, the rocking has a soporific effect and we soon nod off.
We wake up at 5am, as we pull into the train station and we all disembark into the darkness and drizzle of Hanoi. Considering the time, we're a little bit worried about getting to our pre-booked guesthouse. Now, what happens next is truly bizarre.
We try and find a legit looking taxi driver (ie, one wearing a tie or a uniform) and the when we finally do, he tells us the taxi is on a meter. This seems fine to us, until we realise the meter is more crooked than a double sided coin. The journey is supposed
to be about $1 and it costs us $6. When we protest loudly at the final amount, he just shrugs and waits for us to pay up.
The next surprise is that the hostel we booked on Hostelworld.com...doesn't exist anymore! There's nothing to show that it ever existed, just a building where it should be on a dimly lit street. It's still raining and dark so we sit in the doorway of a nearby hotel and plan our next move. By the way, Hanoi much colder than anywhere else we've been in Asia (Manchester cold) so we're beginning to feel pretty miserable.
Luckily salvation came in the form of a very friendly hostel receptionist who lets us in and makes us a cup of tea. Even though he has no rooms available he phones around and finds us a room in another hotel and even wakes his mate up at 6am to drive us there for free.
So that was our intro to Hanoi...the train journey was good though!
Ali and Clio x
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