I got the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue – my first
sleeper train experience. The sleeper trains are a pretty good way to travel – 2 sets of 2-tier bunk beds in a
room with AC. Upon getting in my room, I attempted to communicate with my
roomies, only to discover that none of them could speak any kind of reasonable
English. Thankfully, after scurrying the hallways, I found Westerners in the
other room and talked with them for the rest of the night until I was ready for
bed.
I arrived in Hue in the morning of my birthday. Hue used to be the imperial capital of some dynasty. I met English
Stu and Semi–English, Semi-South African
Talitha. I tagged along with them and we went and visited the Imperial Citadel
(read: boring old building):
By the time I had got back to the hostel, word had
got around that it was my birthday, partly because the staff noticed from my
passport, and partly because I was telling everyone.
That night a few of us went down to the bar to celebrate. To
my surprise, the staff appeared with a birthday cake and sung happy birthday to
me.
Stu was also kind enough to buy me a shot of ‘Arse’, which
is Vodka combined with fish sauce, and is appropriately named. All in all it
turned out to be a really good birthday night.
The next we hired bicycles and road around randomly. We were
looking for a temple, but got pretty lost. Talitha spotted a vegan restaurant
and wanted to eat there. I’m scared of Vegan restaurants, but this meal (some
kind of egg and fake meat soup) was quite good.
We eventually found some
temples, and the most lifelike statue I’ve ever seen. Until I nervously prodded
him, I really wasn’t all that confident it was a statue.
Bored of Hue, I got the bus South to Hoi An. When I got off
the bus, I was hounded by people offering me accommodation. Amongst the mayhem, I totally forgot to get my backpack off the bus. I walked a little down the road and
realised what I had done. I ran back to the bus station, but the bus was
already gone, and was heading about 10 hours South. No-one at the bus station cared
about my predicament, but a lady from the hotel I decided to stay at overheard
me and told me we could chase the bus down. This sounded awesomely Hollywood
like, so I got on the back of her motorbike and she started chasing the bus.
Luckily, the bus had pulled over not too far away to pick up more passengers,
and we were able to chase it down and reclaim my bag.
Anyway, Hoi An is an old town, that used to be a popular
trading port. It’s now just a ridiculously touristy town. I’m never one to
complain that places are too touristy (in fact that’s usually a plus for me),
but this town was. It is a nice town to have a look at though. Here's an old Japanese bridge:
Here's a picture that appears to have been taken on a boat that I was never on:
Hoi An also has reasonably nice beaches, and we used
this as an excuse to hire scooters and drive around for the day, stopping by
the beach and a priceless restaurant. That is, there were no prices on the
menu, so they charge you what they feel like. If you have shiny white Western
skin, they usually feel like charging you more. Here was our crew today, minus me, as I could solve the conundrum of both taking the photo and being in the photo at the same time:
Next, I got a motorbike taxi from Hoi An to Da Nang, which
is where I needed to be to get the train South. Motorbike taxis are the
cheapest way to get around, and despite the fact that he had to put my giant
backpack in front of him while he was riding, he was more than happy to do the
45 minute drive.
Da Nang is a reasonably big city, that’s quite modern
looking. Tourists don’t really go here all that much, but I liked it. I hired a
scooter again, and went on an epic ride around town, across a suspension
bridge, past the beaches and down the highway. By this time I had become quite
addicted to riding scooters, and this was the nicest ride I’ve done yet. I
stopped over at a place called ‘Marble Mountain’, which is self-describing.
Walking up the mountain was both tiresome and boring, but I was quite the
celebrity here. I’m not sure who they thought I was, but anyone and everyone
wanted a picture with me. After I couldn’t handle fame anymore, I drove back to
the hotel.
Summary
Awesome:
Birthday celebrations in Hue, scootering around Hoi An and Da Nang
Craptacular:
Hue - a town designed to be as boring as possible
What's Next
South Vietnam - The beach and the big city
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