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wet hue and hoi an - still from ho!
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apologies if this is an appaling blog but i've lost the ability again!
right so hue. so we get there in the early hours of tuesday october 28, after an horrendous sleeper bus journey from ninh binh - our first - during which we'd thought we'd been lucky to escape everyone by choosing to sleep at the very back of the bus, in the more claustophobic 'bottom' compartment, but now, in hindsight, i really don't think it matters where you choose to park your behind on those buses because you aint getting much sleep, of any quality at any rate, on any one of them! anyway, so at about 6am, we arrive in hue, half asleep, grouchy and with a bad neck! it's raining and i'm thinking maybe we should just hide under the covers and go onto hoi an, where we're told it's not raining and a far superior stop! nevertheless, we start picking up our bags to get off and, before we've even had time to get our shoes on, get swarmed by touts, who have actually made their way onto the bus! i mean give me a break! we've only just woken up and already we're being hassled! anyway, after a few minutes of battling to get off the bus, we finally make it out into the rain, where we now have to struggle to locate our bags in the 'hold' of the bus while contending with the still persistent touts. well, in the end, we manage to find them and dig them out from underneath everyone elses and 'yank' them out and are on our way out of the rain, now plummeting it down, to get out the lonely planet and try our damndest to find this blasted hotel, all the while being screamed at by touts telling us to 'come with me please', which i hate because aint no-one ordering any of us around at 6am! after a short while being unable to locate where the bus has actually dropped us, so not knowing where our hotel might be, we decide to go with a friendly tout, who shortly after indirectly takes us to the hotel we'd wanted all along! after not having to lug our bags anywhere because this thai binh gaff (!) has a lazy lift, we check in and go for breakfast, literally opposite, at the renowned cafe on thu wheels cafe, where we are almost automatically accosted by thu herself, who starts reeling off all this london slang to us - two fat ladies, lubbly jubbly etc etc! anyway so taken in by her cocky rhyming slang and the fact that she keeps telling us not to trust any touts or ANYONE outside, we give her a chance and go in for something to eat, where once inside she starts telling us all about her famous bike tours and showing us her book of recommendations from all and sundry! a handy tool for any business person! now all i'm saying is that this woman was a character and a good sales woman at that because within an hour of us going back to the room to mull over our options, and despite sean now being a big fan of renting a bike and hitting the road, we were back saying yes to one of her tours! i mean the fact that hue isn't the easiest place to navigate, and that every sight we wanted to see was outside of town, and that by now it was absolutely pissing it down outside, all definitely worked in her favour; as well as the fact that, in hindsight, she was right and the tour was bloody good! anyway, after getting ourselves kitted up in my good poncho, similar to the ones they wear out here, and sean's bad rain jacket, we were back at thu's and ready to jump onto the back of a bike to tour hue! an odd sight seeing sean hold onto someone, on the back of a bike, seeing as i'd gotten so used to seeing him 'behind the wheel'! anyway, after a little swerving around plenty of traffic, holding on for dear life, we were dropped off at the city citadel, where we were given time to walk around the complex, as best we could as the place was clearly flooded. nevertheless, despite some backing away from going around, we decided to make the most and see as much as we could, including where the 'big dude' who lived there once kept all his concubines! bloody men! after about an hour of difficult exploration, and even more difficulty trying to get our cameras out to take photos without getting them totally destroyed by the rain, we decided to head back to the bikes, but not before sean ducked into a souvenier shop to get himself something that would actually work and keep him dry, seeing as already he looked like he'd been through the wash! after the citadel, the guys drove us onto the thien mu pagoda, which we were told has been rebuilt any number of times following torrential rain and storms. here was also where we got to see the remains of the car belonging to thich quang duc, the monk who set himself on fire to protest against the local regimes. now i don't know too much about the history, but i know the photo and have now seen the car, and it's a pretty awesome thing to do, to burn yourself for something you believe in that strongly. i mean it takes a pretty brave, or stupid, person to burn themselves for a cause. i can't see that many people doing that much for anything these days. i guess that's because we're all so damned selfish these days! anyway, after the pagoda, we got back on the bikes and were driven through town, through yet more swarms of traffic, through more rain and deeper puddles - one of which fully drowned me after a car raced through it covering our bike - until we got up to a clearing on a hill where a group of bunkers sat. here our guide told us about how following the war, the vietcong, pissed with the south vietnamese supporting the american side, took hundreds of south vietnamese down to these bunkers, which had once protected them during the war, and buried them alive. all i'm saying is that that war was f*cked, and after so much that we've now seen (remember it's now november 20), i'm not sure how easy it is to decide which side any of us would choose to be on say if a sequel happened! anyway, after more difficulty taking shots of the hill and the bunkers and the river, the bikes took us onto to tu duc's tomb, a magnificient figure with wives and hussy mistresses (!) and a massive residence. maybe a tiny sized man though because all the statues around seemed really small, perhaps to make him seem bigger! following the tomb and complex, which was stunning with a winding river and fir trees and chinese inspired buildings and shrines, and even more so with less people around brought about by the terrible weather, the guys took us onto our last stop, the tu hieu pagoda. here, we were able to stop and watch some buddhist monks as they began to 'throw' a ceremony. here our guide explained to us why there are fewer monks in vietnam. he said that those who decide to join a temple do so for life, as opposed to the few weeks, months, or years that many choose to do in laos, for example. so if a boy of 12 decides they want to see what the buddhist life is all about, rather than simply taking to it for a few weeks as a kind of fad as they might in laos, in vietnam it's like getting married without the option of divorce. you're in it for life buster! no easy get out clause! afterward, our guys drove us back to thu's, before zipping off, without even giving us the option of giving them a tip, which sucked because they deserved one especially in the weather they'd just driven us through. later, we walked out to get some dinner, but before we'd even made it to the corner of our road, i, having decided to wear only flip flops out so not to ruin any other shoes in the flooded streets, had already stubbed my toe on the crap pavements that are out here and needed to run back to the hotel in fear that i might pick up some waterborne disease from the floods. so digging out the savalon and plasters for maybe only the second time on this trip, i sorted out my foot and we were back out to go eat at the 'tropical' restaurant that we'd read did hue-style, picky, fussy, 'dude' tu duc's fancy food! all rolled rice paper and perfectly neat vegetables and delicately prepared sea food bites. it was very good, though a little expensive, but nothing beats a big mac! no, i'm afraid i'm definitely one of these big meat and two veg kinda gals! give me bbq ribs, onion rings, cajun style wedges etc and i'm happier than a pig in shit! i can't stand fancy food! afterward we had too many drinks in the dmz bar and why not? bar, while listening to rock music and playing pool.
wednesday 29 october
today is just wet, so we duck out for breakfast at the 'family' restaurant opposite, before returning to our hotel room, where we stay for literally hours, with no motivation to know what to do in this weather. actually i think all we achieved was to watch a couple of films, one starring jake gyllenhall - alex, you're his biggest fan! tell me if that's spelt right?! - in which he's been told he has no immunity and so must live his life in a bubble, but upon realising that he loves his friend, makes a road trip across america to tell her of his love and break up the wedding to some loser! on arrival he tells her that he'd rather unzip his bubble so he could spend his last minute kissing her than spend the rest of his life never knowing what that would feel like! beautiful! i won't tell you the end but i'm sure you can guess!!! we also watch one about a rocketman. all very obscure. afterwards, we go out to see that even our hotel alleyway is completely flooded and everyone has to wade through to get to where they want to go, so i, with my bloody foot, decide to stay close to the hotel and blog all day. but not before braving it to the closest ATM to get out yet more money, this time to pay for our visa extensions having decided that we'll most definitely need more time in vietnam. the trip is a pain in the arse with every road flooded and every pavement covered in mopeds blocking the way! in the end i have to straddle several so as to stay up top on the path and not have to wade through sewage water in the roads! after handing in our forms, the lady says our visas will be ready the next afternoon. sean braves it out further into hue and goes shopping in search of shorts and trainers, during which time he comes to realise that everything is cut for the vietnamese size person and that the way sales people sell is to simply shove one shoe after another in your face and wait to see if you'll snap it up! later we eat some amazing food at the indian down the road, which we think has been recommended in the lonely planet, though the next day we see several others with the same name; and drink in thu's. i write in her book for other new comers to read and snap up the tour! she is happy! we're unable to go out to the b4 bar, which will pay for your taxi if you appear to have invited enough people along with you, because the owner has decided to change jobs and become a travel agent! that night i sit up and watch a bad film called 'i married a monster' about stepford style husbands, who are obsessed with getting their wives pregnant as a way to preserve their species! these men have been taken over by an alien race you see! top stuff!
thursday 30 october
up and breakfast in hung vuong restaurant, where i have THE most amazing banana crepe with chocolate EVER, before i go buy a postcard i never send, have a tea with thu and more internetting! sean goes on a shopping spree, and meets a cyclo driver who thinks he knows him and says he has family in kingston! he is also accosted by a lady who wants him to buy postcards from her so she can eat that night! we have lunch in the why not? bar and take a walk around hue, looking at all the weird and wonderful statues in the park and at the dragon boats on the river, which we've been told do not do good tours! during our time here, we get to see hundreds of school kids choreographing dances, and ladies who might lunch if they were younger with money but who instead power walk! we take a few photos while they're not looking! that night, we go out to eat FIRST in 'hot tuna', where we have a beer and spring rolls, because i never know where to eat out, and NEXT in 'la carambole', where we have shrimp and steamed fish and cheap dalat wine. in both restaurants we are accosted by the staff of the why not? bar, who are handing out flyers for their halloween celebrations the following day, which we'll unfortunately miss because we'll already be in hoi an. during the second meal, we earwig in on a tense conversation between a woman and a guy from the same package tour group, where it turns out that she's pissed because they didn't wake her up to go out for dinner that night and so she's ended up having to eat out alone. he says she'd said earlier that day that she didn't want to come out with them, and so she should have set an alarm and been out there ready with everyone if she'd thought she might change her mind and now wanted to come out with them, to which she says that she forgot, but maybe it would have been courteous of them if they'd bothered to think about her and come and get her anyway! in the end we just came to realise that all we'd already thought about package tour groups was true! that they're gossipy and bitchy and herded around in a group all day long! after dinner, we're stopped by yet more people asking us if we have any spare english coins because 'they collect them', to which sean says what he thinks is really happening is that these people then trade them in for vietnamese money! god how gullible am i?! next we head off to the why not? bar for more drinks, and music, and pool with a couple of english guys, who turned out to have studied thai boxing along with some other guys we'd met in pai. later, i challenge a couple of the girls from the bar to a game of pool, having seen before that they practice after their shifts, to which i lose! and they call me rubbish! we have a few photos all taken together, which i promise i will email them. i still haven't! must remember! on the way home, a man stops us and asks if i want to ride his cyclo for him to our hotel? odd! he then asks if i want to buy weed from him, to which i say no but get really excited as all the time we've been out here it's seemed like only male tourists get asked if they want drugs as if only men take them! no amy winehouse's drug addiction doesn't exist does it?!
friday 31 october
wake up. no hangover? breakfast in the 'family' restaurant again as it's easy! check out. sean goes out to buy yet more 'smellies'. i internet time. check photo cds from the day before. it turns out half of sean's photos haven't been put on them. i panic that bus won't pick us up. bus man arrives. bags on. we think we've got the bus to ourselves until hundreds of people crowd on from the last hotel pick-up! hours later, we make it to hoi an, where yet agan we face 1000 touts and having to try to find a perfect hotel for my birthday. we check out several and then a too posh one, but, and despite the savvy hotel owner showing us both round and saying we'll back the next day, we say we have to find something more in our price range! we find another and check in, but literally half an hour later realise that it's stark and just crap, despite the amazing inside / outside pool, and that we should go back to the too posh one! sean goes to argue the point that we don't want to stay and can we just pick up and leave, to which the reception guy says we have to pay some because he can't just go crossing out our names as it will look like he's screwing over his boss or something?! anyway, he can't just let us go so we end up paying him like three pounds just to walk back out the door! this place is screwed up! and we're back in the too posh one called thien thanh or blue sky, the most gorgeous hotel in the whole damn town! our room has bamboo decoration and flowers on the bed and posh silk robes in the wardrobe, and a proper bathroom with bath and shower curtain!!!! rather than the bog standard shower head poking out over the loo! anyway, it's amazing! the halls are bamboo lined and there are potted plants and bird cages and a fish pond all indoors; an inside / outside pool; a restaurant overlooking a paddie field; and FOUR computers, all running fast internet that doesn't break down! and all we have to pay for our room is $20, already especially knocked down in price because we're maybe the last guests through that night and the hotel wants all it's rooms filled?! i don't know? anyway, finally we've found a nice one that will suit us quite nicely for the next few days and my bday! we just hope we don't get too attached because before long we'll be back to budget! that night we have tea in cafe 43, a nice little place in the lonely planet with THE best food we think we've had, before heading back to the hotel to meet our curfew though on our way in we bump into people on their way out - face painted and donned in ONLY the posh robes from the wardrobes!
Where I stayed:
van trang - second time in ho chi minh city
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