Vietnam – Hue: Day 9

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 062009
 

We really only had the afternoon to do our sightseeing in the city as we were set to leave the next morning for our next stop. So, after settling in to the Orchid Hotel and refreshing a bit, we went off to explore the sights.

Hue is a rather small city and truthfully much more than a day is not necessary. The main attraction in the city is the citadel. With a ticket purchase of 55,000VND, you can explore the grounds to your heart’s content.

In the citadel is the Forbidden Purple City. I’m not sure why it was forbidden nor did I see signs of purple, but I’m sure if I took the time to read up on the history these answers would be clear. Within the grounds there were many missing buildings with foundation rocks showing where the buildings would have been much like a number of castle grounds in Japan. The buildings that were still around had some really interesting carvings and designs on them.

 

On our way to the citadel, we stopped at the Dong Ba Market just across the river and had a quick look around. This area is apparently well-known for their cone-shaped hats with “poems” hidden on the inside that can be seen as shadows when in the proper lighting. It was pretty cool and I half considered buying one, but as I wasn’t really in the mood to negotiate, I passed it up. What would I do with a cone-shaped hat anyway?? This was perhaps the most interesting market for me to walk through. Perhaps it felt more like a place locals would go instead of tourists. It reminded me quite of the market in Cusco that I used to go to frequently.

We had a bit of a rest before dinner and since our hotel was in the main tourist area, there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. So, we decided on a place called Hot Tuna and had dinner on the roof. The waiter was pretty friendly and made me smile with his little laughs as he inquired about where we were from and how we liked Vietnam. He was studying in Hue to be a high school English teacher back in his hometown north of Hanoi. It was the only time we really had a decent conversation with a Vietnamese person, so that was pretty nice.

Afterwards, we had drinks at Brown Eyes for their long happy hour prices. It was a weirdly decorated bar, but the staff was nice and the drinks good.

Thus ended our day in Hue.

More to come…

-T

Vietnam – Travel from Hanoi to Hue: Day 8

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 052009
 

A full day of traveling to our next destination was spent for our half-way mark of our travels through Vietnam.

There was a bit of waiting around as our boat made its way back to the port and we were shuttled back to land. In some ways it was a relief to return to a more comfortable form of life on land after being away in the quiet and watery-world. In others, I immediately missed the breeze and peacefulness of the boat bobbing along the waves.

We boarded our bus heading back to Hanoi where we were to catch our night train down to Hue. The bus was slightly delayed in traffic due to an accident with a taxi and tourist bus, but after a bit of honking, people-watching and swerving in and out of traffic, we were on our speedy way. The bus driver was on the short-tempered side in his driving as he sped by other trucks, cars, and motorbikes driving the bus at a bouncy clip so that we could have been on a trotting horse rather than in the back of a bus. With an interesting “shortcut” that took us down a bumpy dirt road and lost time from the regular road, we made it in good time to Hanoi back to our original hotel where we had a couple of hours to spend before heading for the train station.

Craig and I went for a quick Pho dinner while Roman caught up on his internet. Then, we took a quick taxi ride to the station. Now, our hope had been to get the Livitran for our 13-hour night journey to Hue. However, when we asked at the hotel, they told us it was all sold out. The next best option was for a soft-sleeper bed, with four bunks and a bit more space. Sadly, also sold out. So, our personal trip to the station to get tickets resulted in the three of us getting very cheap tickets for the 6-bunk hard-sleeper bed train. This website shows the different options pretty well.

When we arrived at our car, there were already three or rather four (two women were sharing one of the bottom bunks) people settled in. I took the top bunk and the boys got the two middle bunks. It was an experience… no-smoking cars that allowed smoke, so that it traveled through the air conditioning system right above my head, very little head space and a precarious decline to the ground were a couple of the adjustments needed to be made. Still, I have to say it was not as bad as it could have been and I felt like I got to see how the locals would travel, which is better in a way than using my wealth for comfort. One night of less comfortable environs was worth being able to write about.

In the morning, most people were in the hallway looking out the window and trying to take in some “fresh” air as the scenery flew by. We arrived in Hue without incident and were greeted by our pickup for the hotel.

More to come…

-T

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