Sat 05 June - Day 37. Scorchio 35C - Happy Birthday Sue / Mum
It was a long night. Apart from the bumpy roads and constant hooting of the horn, the man on the seat in front of us slept like a baby but sounded like a dying water buffalo. He snored all night, only waking when in a desperate fit of tiredness and jealousy rene whacked the back of his seat. The man in the seat behind us would hoick gutterally (is that a word?) every ten minutes or so, but thankfully with no end product. The drivers swapped duties at 2am and to celebrate had another 45 min meal. It stareted getting light at about 4.30am and according to the people we booked the bus with we would arrive in Hue at about 5.30am. A journey of 11 hours. At 7am the bus pulled over for yet another meal break. We eventually rolled into Hue at 9.15am, a full 14 3/4 hours afte leaving Hanoi. On arrival we booked a bus to drop us at Cau Hao where the turn off to Bach Ma National PArk is, then had some breakfast.
We were determined not to let lack of slepp spoil our morning so we hired 2 mopeds and 2 drivers for 2 hours (60,000 dong / US$4)and explored the sights of Hue. Hue used to be one of Vietnams main cultural and religious centres. Today its main attractions are the splendid tombs of the Nguyen explorers, the remains of the walled Citadel and several notable pogodas. The women of Hue are also renowned for their beauty.
It was our first go on the back of mopeds and we loved it. We visited Pagodas, Citadels, temples and a tiny wooden house Ho Chi Minh lived in. We rode through the city and alongside the Perfume River which bisects Hue. WE may have seen a lot more had Rene not told the drivers to go slow. It's a great way to get about.Lunch was followed by a 45 min bus ride to Cau Mai, a dusty one horse town where we are dropped with our rucksacks. We find the turn off to Bach Ma NP and surrounded by men urging us to use their particular moped, we start walking. After 100yds the crowd has thinned and we do a deal.We both get on the back of mopeds with our rucksacks, three dusty ,bumpy miles later we arrive at the gates of Bach Ma National Park.
Bach Ma, a French-era hill station is 1200m above sea level,but only 20km from the coasty. In 1991 , 22,000 hectares of land were set aside as a nature preserve and dsesignated National Park status. 124 wildlife species live within the boundaries of the park, including tigers, several types of monkey, 330 species of bird, 31 species of snake( aagh!)and 1150 species of plant life. About 850 ethnic minority people also inhabit the area.
The park entrance, visitors entrance and office is pretty much at sea level, so the tree clad mountains of Bach Ma with the highest peak rising to 1450m make a dramatice backdrop. Our accomodation was at 12oom and requires a 16km drive to get there. The National Parks vehicles are the only ones allowed up and charge 350,000 dong for a 12 seater minibus, which divided by 12, 10 or even 6 is fine. It's school holidays in Vietnam and everywhere is very busy. Well nearly everywhere. We'd been banking on at least one other couple being there, but ther's noone about.
So Rene and I stood in the office in the middle of nowhere tired and soaking with sweat being told that on top of the 150,000 for accomodation and 15,000 entrance fee each to the park, the only way we can get up there is to pay 350,000, which we just haven't budgeted for. After accom and fee we have about the equivalent of $12. Rene and I had travelled 658km from Hanoi to Hue for $7.50 each.
We headed south from Hanoi and neglected going north to Sapa, to trek and visit the hill tribes, Bach Ma was exactly the sort of place we enjoy visiting, fairly remote with a chance of seing some wildlife. We had also read how the director of Bach Ma wastrying to encourage more visitors to the Park to raise the governments commitment financially.
The poker faced man we dealt with must have been absent when that particular memo was sent out, as he was having none of it, and with a completely straight face he said our only other option was to hike up. 3.30pm, 35C, 16km, climbing 1000m with our rucksacks. He was deadly serious.
In Asia if you raise your voice and get angry you lose face, I'm Manx so I told him what I thought, which didn't help hugely but there you go. He told us there were rooms we could stay in behind the visitors centre for 120,000 dong. We were desperate for a shower so we had a look. They were tired and run down but did indeed have a shower, so we paid the man and he left. Then we decided to leave. We'd nearly succumb to the lure of a shower. We got our backpacks on and headed to the office to get our money back. Rene couldn't find her hat, then remembered she'd left it on the office counter. We received our money but they hadn't seen any hat. We were fuming, we knew it was there somewhere. I looked under the counter and was about to go round the other side when the man who had disappeared into a side room reappeared with Renes hat, he just handed it over with no attempt to explain. Little wonder they don't get many visitors.
Loaded up like mules again we started walking back towards Cau Hai. We wlaked about 200yards before we passed a man in a wooden shack who had a moped. We agreed a price and wth our rucksacks we some how all squeezed on his honda 70.
We'd decided to return to Hue for the night, and once on the main road we didn't have to wait long for one of the many local buses. It was overflowing with people and stuff, but the lady running the bus waved us on and took our money. Rene had the last seat at the front, I stood up as the moped at the front of the bus already had someone sat on it. It was swealtering so the door was continuously open. Three tiny old ladies got on next all wearing conical hats. One looked just like Nan. Rene gave up her seat, and two of the ladies sat down. They were very smiley. Everytime the bus stopped something was offloaded, and a man would appear yielding cash, pay the lady and disappear again with the goods. The money was quickly deposited in the womans handbag and the bus moved on, the man on the roof offloading didn't have time to get down before the bus carried on, so he would clamber from the roof and through the open door like a monkey.
It took an hour to get back to Hue and was a fascinating bus ride.
The bus station was further than we thought from the centre so after 1/2 mile we flagged down a couple of mopeds to take us the rest of the way.
We found good accomodation for US$7 inc air con, en suite, TV etc. Had a meal and a couple of beers and collapsed into bed.
Expenses: BReakfast 2,600, bikes 60,000, lunch 45,000, beers 14,000, bus to Hoi Ann $4, Return to Bach Ma 165,000, beer and crisps 50,000, dinner 105,000.
Sun 6 June - Day 38. Scorchio
A lazy morning, reading, writing and doing a little washing.
At 1.30pm we catch the bus to Hoi An. It's a sauna bus at this time of the day. The journey takes 4 hrs and for large parts hugs the coast, so it's very picturesque. The route also climbs up and over the spectacular Hoi Van Pass which climbs steeply with tight hairpin bends and massive drops and offersstunning views.
The Vietnamese country side is beautiful, vivd green, fertile and full of life, but every now and then we see something we wish we hadn't. On our way up the Hai
Van Pass the bus pulled over to let a lorry past. The lorry was piled high with small metal cages, in each of these cages were squashed 3 or 4 dogs. There were at least 100 cages on the lorry. The dogs on the outside were struggling in the heat (35C) and direct sunlight, so the ones on the inside had no chance. It was horrific. We are totally aware that dog meat is a big industry in Vietnam and what we saw happens a hundred times a day and that due to little refridgeration livestock is kept alive until the last possible moment. We know all that, but that image will stay with us.
We were quiet for the rest of the bus journey to Hoi An.
We arrived at 5.30pm, had a walk around checking room prices and picked our nicest room yet. The hotel was very new and our room had a bath, TV, fridge and fan for US$7. We had a lovely meal down by the river and discussed as usual what to do tomorrow.
Expenses:Accom 110,000, drinks 14,000, dinner 115,000.
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