Hue- the turning point

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Back from Halong Bay, we arrived at our hotel to find arguments in full flow regarding being overcharged for rooms, tours, lack of rooms... all the problems we had had. I decided for once to stand up for my principles and tell everyone I met in the hotel not to book a tour with them as they would be overcharged. I even butted in when I saw a couple agreeing to a tour with the manager- they left, pleased I had warned them. The manager was less impressed, resulting in our taxi to the bus station arriving half an hour early and us practically being ejected from the hotel!

We found out our $30 each VIP sleeping bus tickets should really only have cost $18 each. Our hotel was obviously out for every tourist dollar it could get. Our 'beds' turned out to be almost as wide as a small bus seat, and only as long as a mini Vietnamese person. We did have to view it as a travelling 'experience' though, especially when we saw that our beds were in a row of 5 at the back, divided only by a little 20cm long rail in the centre. So Alex ended up pretty much sharing a bed with one English and 3 Vietnamese girls! Along with the crazy driving and almost constant horn beeping as is the norm here, we had little sleep.

We arrived in Hue at 6.30am, thankfully at last discovering someone who spoke enough english to explain where to go for breakfast. 'Pho bo'- noodle soup with beef- is not my favourite early breakfast!

After the overnight bus, we were happily touted into a room for a well deserved shower! The temperature so far in Vietnam has been around 40 degrees C each day, so we were also glad to offload some washing to our hotel.

We then headed out into the old citadel of Hue, crossing the perfume river squeezed against the side of the bridge to avoid being run over! We met our friends Christine and Mathieu in the forbidden city and walked around for a while. Christine and I bought fans to try and contend with the heat. Soon lunchtime was upon us, so we piled onto the bikes C & M had hired, with hilarious results. The locals thought it amusing later when I cycled with Alex on the back! We ate in a great little restaurant run by a deaf mute, who presented us with one of his bottle-opener inventions when we left.

Hue has saved us from being completely put off tourism in Vietnam. We have discovered that if you look hard enough there are people who are not out for every last dollar you have, and who in fact are very friendly. There is also good food to be found along the way!

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Comments

[Lauren]

Hmm!
Wow you have me both excited and worried...so how do you get visas before you arrive in Vietnam?!