Hue

We took an overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, and it was a first for Billy. We shared a sleeping cabin with two older Vietnamese women who gave us candy and were early to bed, just like us. Oddly enough it was our best night of sleep since the soft sleeper was comfortable compared to our stay in Hanoi.

We arrived in Hue at about 8 am and were able to check into our room early to shower, which was well deserved.


Day 1 in Hue:


After showering, eating complimentary breakfast, and returning emails we hit the streets running. It is much quieter in Hue and the streets aren't filled with as many motos and honking so we strolled a few blocks to the river and headed to the nearest bridge to visit the Citadel. After stopping by a sculpture garden we took a tuk-tuk to the citadel, which was another first.

After the citadel we took the tuk-tuk around the outside and along some side streets, stopping at a few photo ops of urban gardening. People here will grow anything any where with only small pieces of land. They are so resourceful it is amazing.

Our driver then took us to the market, which like Hanoi, was a disappointment. It is a large two story building with clothing, toys, and household items but nothing of souvenir significance. After the market the tuk-tuk driver returned us to the center of Hanoi and there it got ugly. Billy had agreed to a price with the driver when we started and he then changed his mind and started becoming aggressive when we wouldn't pay more than we agreed on. Billy eventually offered him a little more money and the guy turned his nose at us and wouldn't take it. After going at it for a minute the guy took the money and we quickly walked away. Lesson learned to double and tripple check prices.

On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a smoothie and spring roll. Hue has famous rolls and they didn't disappoint. For $3 we had an amazing afternoon snack. We continued walking and I stopped by a clothing store where I bought one skirt for $9 and had measurements taken to have another made for $18 with embroidery. Friends had told me about having clothing made and they weren't kidding. I think in Hoi An I might try for another skirt, dress, or pants.

Billy and I returned to the hotel and rested for a little bit and got ready to go out for the evening. We ate dinner at a BBQ Korean/Vietnamese restaurant for $6.


Day 2:

Today I wanted to explore the tombs surrounding Hue which our travel book spoke about. They are more tourist attractions than local attractions since entrance fees of $3-5 per person is prohibitive to locals. Our travel book gave a general map of how to bike a route around all tombs which should take about 12 km and two hours to complete. Billy and I rented bikes at the hotel for $2 and headed off like locals. With our book in our basket and courage in our souls we made off to the streets. I was nervous at first bit after going through our first big intersection and going against traffic after making a wrong turn I gave up on American bike rules and just went for it.

Unfortunately our map was rudimentary at best and lead us astray more than once. It showed roads where there were none and didn't give enough street names. We made the most of it but after 1.5 hours we were about to give up. We hadn't gotten far outside the city and locals were telling us the wrong way but we didn't give up. Eventually we found our way back to a main road and saw more tour buses, which were like the golden rainbow. "Follow the tourists" became our slogan for the day. Finally after two hours we arrived at Khai Dinh Tomb. At times we thought we were close but we would have to wait for a tour bus to go buy to determine which way to go at the "T" in the road. The ticket collector told us it should have only taken 30 minutes, but oh well, we had fun and got great exercise.

Khai Dinh Tomb was beautiful but full of stairs. At one point we found a fan and just sat in front of it and relaxed. After about 30 minutes there and one cold water and ice cream later we set out for Minh Mang Tomb, the one I really wanted to see.

It only took us 30 more minutes to get there since the road signs didn't lead anywhere but we met up with some Australian tourists and we all road together. Eventually a man came into the street and told us to stop and leave our bikes at his restaurant, for a donation, and walk along the wall to the entrance. We weren't sure if we were being had but thought why not, we weren't going to loose anything.

Ming Mang was peaceful but not worth 3 hours of biking. I think the adventure of being on a bike was worth more than seeing the tomb. We walked around for about 30 minutes and took some great photos and headed out again. Billy paid the man $1 donation and bought $.75 worth of water and we took off. The book said there was a boat we could put our bikes on and head back to Hue but we seriously doubted the book at this point and thought we would have to bike the 10k back.

The problem was that we couldn't see a road that lead to the river so I took off down a dirt/paved road the side of a sidewalk since I could hear the water. My instinct was right and after a 1/2 mile we ended up at the water. The taxi was just about to leave but we paid them $5 for the 1.25 hour boat ride back. We could have biked faster back but the boat trip allowed us to see new sights along the river. After arriving in Hue the driver dropped us off along a river back since they can't dock at a real dock. We pushed the bikes up a hill and my chain came loose in the process.

Billy fixed my train and we bike back towards the hotel. We really started to enjoy the bike riding and had more guts than ever. We stopped for more smoothies and spring rolls and then returned our rented biked and took long hot showers.

Tonight I picked up my skirt, Billy bought a wood carving, and had Indian food for dinner. All in all Hue was a blast and a real gem. We hate to leave our fantastic hotel but tomorrow we head out for Hoi An.