Friday was Charles and my final day in the Vietnamese capital although our departure was not due until 6:45pm. We afforded ourselves a bit of a sleep in but the hard beds at the hotel were not conducive to a comfortable rest. After breakfast we repacked our bags and used our last bit of internet before checking out and leaving our bags in the foyer.
Heading out once again on foot through Hanoi's chaotic streets we soon found ourselves back at the city's central lake and, surprise, the KFC at the northern end. KFC in Vietnam in a high-class affair. Our meal was served on plates and in real glasses, in a relatively posh and well serviced environment. All this was for half the price of KFC back home but this was relatively expensive for Vietnam, a price we were willing to pay for some western food for a change.
We continued northward, travelling from the old quarter to the large West Lake and the national monuments precinct. Through the course of several hours we walked down from the lake, around the Presidential Palace, along the national park, past the National Museum and to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Being a Friday the Mausoleum was closed for visitors so we could only look from the exterior and appreciate the grand scale of the main boulevard and parade area. Nearby is the single support pagoda pagoda, which was quaint but very popular with tourists.
It was then another bit of walking through more districts within the city to the Temple of Literature, which we circumnavigated in lieu of paying to actually enter. This pretty much completed our planned round trip of the city but we were running an hour or so early. As such I was able to secure a deviation to the Ga Hanoi (railway station), where we investigated times and ticketing arrangements for our future trip from Hue to Da Nang. To our delight and disappointment we discovered a Lotteria (Korean burger chain) at the station and as such were unable to avoid a visit. Our hotel was only a 5 minute walk away but we had only discovered this restaurant on the day of our departure!
A mid-afternoon meal was made at Lotteria, consisting of some Bulgogi Burger Value Meals which included the burger, a drink and... a piece of fried chicken. There were no other customers so our meals were made to order and came out piece by piece. We almost left before the fried chicken arrived because we weren't expecting it! As was the case with KFC our meals were served with proper plates and crockery but Lotteria went one more by having sofa chairs at the tables in the restaurant... classy.
Once back at the hotel we picked up our bags and began the roughly 1km roll through the Hanoi streets to the Vietnam Airlines office. A Vietnam Airlines van with seats for 15 people (2 of which were foot stools) squashed inside was waiting so we boarded and waited while the staff waited for all seats to become occupied. Soon enough we had paid our $3AUD each and were on the way for the 1 hour trip to the airport. We arrived a bit early to check in for our flight and as such ended up sitting around listening to music for about 20 minutes before we could get rid of our bags and head through security. I then did some reading until the boarding call was made for our Vietnam Airlines flight at about 6:20pm.
Buses transported us from the gate to the Airbus A320 parked out on the tarmac. It was an older aircraft, with a few dodgy features like bum lights inside. Charles and I had been allocated exit row seats so we enjoyed the extra leg room that this offered. During the flight I reconfirmed with Charles why we weren't taking the overnight train for this journey. Unfortunately he has a "no sleeper train policy" that I was unable to contravene and we didn't have enough time to travel during the day. Like a flight to Kalgoorlie we were descending pretty much after we had reached cruising altitude, just giving the staff time to serve us our complimentary drinks. Landing into Hue was a bit bumpy and it took a while to descend through the thick cloud layers that brought with them a bit of turbulence.
Hue gave off a bit of a Hobart vibe as the airport was a small affair and we were the only flight in at that time. Taxi drivers literally swamped us as we exited the building but through the confusion we managed to secure a driver who would charge us "by meter". The drive into the town was very relaxing in comparison to Hanoi as there were few other road users. Traffic did get worse as we entered the town proper but it was still a more relaxed affair. This perception may also be due to Charles and I becoming used the crazy Hanoi traffic. When we get home you may notice us crossing the road fearlessly at inappropriate times!
Our hotel gave us a warm welcome consisting of complimentary orange juice, face towels and vouchers for a free cocktail each at the "High Sky Bar" on the top (7th) floor. Our room came as a real shock in that it was very large, the beds were soft and everything was clean and appeared to work! This was all for the reasonable price of about $60AUD a night; no wonder that the hotel has received the HotelClub award for best value in Asia for the last 2 years. As it was late and the area seems quite touristy we couldn't be bothered wandering the streets for a cheap feed so we headed up to the bar, redeemed our cocktail vouchers and ordered some pork for dinner.
This morning we were able to enjoy a slow start with our relatively comfortable and soft beds. The breakfast cut-off time of 9am forced us to wake at a reasonable hour, although it was worth it. The clientele at this hotel appears to be predominantly European and the breakfast certainly reflected this. There was a good selection of cooked and cold savoury items, cereal and a massive selection of pastries. Mmm pastries... they were so delicious, and who doesn't want to start the day with several profiteroles, croissants and crepes!
Once we had stuffed ourselves with the delights at breakfast we started our large circular walk for the day. This consisted of a waterfront walk on the eastern side of the Perfume River, for about 2.5km to the Hue Railway Station. Here we purchased our tickets for tomorrow morning's train to Da Nang before heading north. This took us over the river on the pedestrian and bike only bridge to the older part of town. The bridge caused a bit of a traffic jam as there wasn't enough space for those on bikes to overtake us and we can only walk so fast.
It was then back towards the hotel, travelling on the western side of the river until we crossed the inner town (citadel) moat. It was a bit quieter on the roads in the citadel so walking wasn't as much a competition as we are now used to. A bit further in we crossed the Imperial Complex's moat and almost walked the entire external wall to reach the only gate where we could enter (not exit).
Across from this main entrance was the large monument and Vietnamese flag, acting as a reminder to the change of power from the existing royal family to the revolutionists under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Through the gates we ploughed, visiting the remaining buildings around the site and exploring the various ruins. Added to this we were harassed by a local wanting us to donate money. It appears that locals can enter the site for free, whereas us foreigners must pay 55000 Dong each, which is still a reasonable price.
By the time we were finishing up at the site it began to drizzle so we camped out on the upper levels of the main gate, under the protection of the roof. In the end we decided not to wait and decided to walk back to the hotel, via the steel latice bridge closest to the hotel and the main market site.
Lunch was not required due to the large breakfast, so when we reached the hotel in the rain we only needed a snack from the complimentary fruit bowl in the room. Partly due to the rain we stayed in the hotel for the last half of the afternoon, doing internet updates and finishing off this blog. We're now about to head out for dinner and a little explore of precinct around the hotel.
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