Blogs from Hué, Thua Thien - Huế, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 10

I wrote most of this yesterday and planned to finish it this morning, but that didn't happen for a variety of reasons and I am too lazy to go through it and change what I had written, so I'll just add a bit about today here. Sorry if it is a bit of a mess. Today I was supposed to leave for Hoi An, a small city about 4 hours south of here. After hearing plenty about the flooding in Thailand and other parts of SE Asia, I had some firsthand experince with it today. When I woke up, the road by my hostel was covered in water. My hostel is near the end of the block, close to a main road that was still dry, so it wasn't bad by me. Farther down the road ... read more

I woke up somewhere in the vicinity of 20 times throughout the night as the train stopped and started but actually managed to get a reasonable nights sleep. We were due into Hue around 0830 but finally rolled in at 1030 to overcast, humid and threatening conditions. Although we had no sleeping quarters booked, we picked a cafe out of the Lonely Planet and walked in that direction. Once through the gates of the train station we were hit with all the usual touts. No – we didn’t want a hotel, no – we didn’t want a cyclo, no – we didn’t want a tour, no – we didn’t want a taxi. Truth is we did want two of the above but one thing we’ve learned from previous trips is that the price for said requirements ... read more

In Hue I was dropped off at the hue Backpackers… sister hostel to the Hanoi Backpackers so I knew I would be in for a good time! The staff at the Hue Backpackers are lovely and friendly, especially Lien the assistant manager who is very sweet and helpful (Lien taught me some very useful Vietnamese phrases…). Smiles all round meant a warm welcome. I checked myself in and settled in for an afternoon beer and a read to find out about Hue. Sat on the first floor balcony I met Nina, a Swiss girl also travelling on her own. We got chatting and before long more people started to turn up. First was a large crowd of English (rabble nonetheless whom I was destined to meet again down the road in Hoi An) and a very ... read more

The twelve hour journey from Hanoi to Hue turned into a long fifteen hour slog. It wasn't by any means the worst ride we'd taken so far but shards of broken glass behind my pillow, intermittent slams from the swinging carriage doors and the constant rocking from the rickety rail tracks didn't make for the most comfortable nights kip. We shared our 4 berth cabin with two other German ladies, both were friendly and polite but kept themselves to themselves. Scott slept well by the sounds of it up on top bunk. To my immature amusement he'd accidently let one slip whilst in the lad of nod, leaving me below slightly embarrassed but still sniggering and pinching my nose cocooned inside my silk liner reacting just as a teenage boy would. Our German neighbours peered inquisitively ... read more

I have Vietnam Fatigue. Our guide book mentions beggar fatigue, where one gets fed up of being begged at and having tatty products shoved under one's nose, and this is contributing to my Vietnam Fatigue. But it goes deeper than that. I'm totally fed up with the Vietnamese. Period. Save for a couple of nice, helpful Vietnamese employees, I've been really irritated by their laziness, and the constant hawking, and their scamming. I hate that everyone puts their prices up to an unreasonable level just because they see we aren't native, like the HCMC cyclo driver who tried to charge us almost $8 each for a 1-minute cycle ride. The logic is, as explained by the guidebook and also some of the lowlifes trying to sell us utter garbage, that since we are foreign, we can ... read more