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Published: February 26th 2013
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Today was a long day and a first without a nap, preceded by a good night of sleep. Go figure. So much has happened in this lovely country of Vietnam that much will be just a mere summary.
Our bike tour was an amazing experience. You know something is special when you are the only westerners about a ferry boat. Our guide, Luong, took us on said ferry boat (after a very exhilarating bicycle ride through town), and to a small fishers village where we saw men making boats (which includes soaking the wood in the river for an entire year), a family who makes rice noodles (including griding the rice, boiling it, etc), and a family that creates grass rugs. We also used a "monkey" bridge (two sticks tied together that apparently very brave motor bikes cross). After our tour was over we napped and awoke to rain...just in time for the light festival. This did not put a damper on my excitement. Suited up with a poncho and umbrella we set about the city to see (or not see) the streets. It was quite wonderful.
The next day (Sunday 2/24) we had enough time to see Marble
Mountain before our train from Da Nang toHue. This was a welcome surprise (since it wasn't listed in my travel notes). Marble Mountain is a series of five small mountains said to look like sleeping dragon. There are pagodos dappled across the mountain as well as several caves (were the Viet Cong hid during the war). One cave was very large and dotted with shrines. It was very peacefully, especially with the rain lightly dripping in from the small holes above. From here we boarded our train to Hue, Vietnam. It departed late but we purposely did not plan anything on our travel days.
Everything is ridiculously cheap here so we have found it well worth just booking transportation through our hotels, so once again and smiling driver was waiting for us in Hue. Hue is about 3 times the size of Hoi An, which means that many more motorbikes. I quickly decided that it is just best to stare out the side window and not at the driver zig zagging past motorbikes (there are basically no light, crosswalks or driving rules here for that matter, so its a bit chaotic).
Our theory of asking for the hotel
receptionist's food suggestions proved trustworthy yet again, as we found ourselves at a place were locals eat, and for me, my best meal yet. We do find the portions a bit small and often order 3 entrees. I wonder if they think us glutons.
I hadn't been sleeping well so we went back to rest, which eventually turned into a nap (at around 6pm), which turned into waking up at 11pm. oops! After watching a movie, we went back to bed and woke up (on Monday 2/25) for our pre-arranged Perfume River tour. This was a great choice.
Our dragon endorned boat peacefully cruised the river and stopped at several locations including a Garden House (where we were told men resided on the left and women on the right, only allowed on the left when they were cleaning), a large pagoda, and three very ornate tombs (some in better shape than others). Back in Hue and determined not to fall asleep again, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner and watched the traffic go by, and if it wasn't clear already, there was lots of it.
Today (Tuesday 2/26) was our second and last morning in Hue. We had
just enough time to walk to the Citadel, where several Emperors and their families lived, for a self guided tour. What a complex this must have been in its hayday. It once was comprised of 160 buildings and now, due to war and cyclones, only 10 stand complete. There are major restorations projects in the works but many peoples will remain as rubble. We very much enjoyed visiting this historical space (and so did Waldo). From here we had to quickly walk back to our hotel and catch our ride to the Hue Airport. We were off to Hanoi, Vietnam, the capital.
I don't know what I was thinking when I said Hue was full of motorbikes. Hanoi is FULL off motorbikes..AND cars. It is absolutely overwhelming, and admittingly abrashive..at first. With just an evening under our belts I am quite used to it (especially since reading to just walk across the street slowly instead of jumping and darting all over the place. at a slow pace, the motorbikes will have time to avoid you..in theory). After our 40 minute energetic ride from the airport, we climbed the 4 flights of stairs to our hotel room that is luckily
NOT on the street side (motorbikes=horns honking a lot!). Dropping down our bags, we headed back out for dinner and the Water Puppet Show. What fun! Marrionettetes, but in water. and all for $3 (the show at least, dinner was slighly more..$8).
Now after this long and exciting day, I am ready for bed. Tomorrow we are heading to Halong Bay for our night on the Junk Boat (where we will explore more caves, kayak and hopefully swim). Then we are back to Hanoi for 2 more nights and on to Thailand!
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