Hue

Hello again everyone. We arrived in Hue a couple of hours ago and checked in to our air conditioned room. I didn't want to leave. It's lovely.

We left Hoi An this morning at around 10:30. Mark decided it was time for adventure, so we were going to "travel like the locals". Oh joy.

We first took a motorbike taxi to the local bus station. After a bit of bartering about price, we struck a deal and I got ready to get on. Mark was on his bike and away before I got on mine - and when I went to sit on it realized it had been sitting in the sun. A black plastic seat gets very hot in 35 degree temperatures, so I quickly hopped off. My driver quickly got a cloth for me to sit on. I don't think I mentioned, but many women wear what look like surgical masks outside to keep the pollution out of their lungs and sun off of their faces (not in that order, I think.) Some have longish ones that hang down their chest a little ways to protect their neck. The cloth I was sitting on looked suspiciously like one of these masks. I hoped someone didn't have to put it back on their face when the driver was done with it.....

I eventually caught up with Mark and we arrived at the bus station. There was one decrepit bus going to Danang in 5 minutes. Timing was pretty good considering we didn't really planned this little trip. We hopped on the bus (complete with deity with flashing LED halo in the front window as all buses seem to be) and s-l-o-w-l-y crept out of town. I kid you not, an old lady carrying a pole with heavy baskets on each end was keeping pace with us and bicycles were pulling out to pass. A few locals got on the bus, including one guy with his ancient bicycle. The bus conductor tied his bike to the wall and all was well.

We did eventually pick up steam (and maybe not coincidentally, the deity's halo started flashing faster) and made it to Danang in about an hour. We got dropped off close to the train station for our 3 hour train ride to Hue. Again, good timing. We bought "soft seat" train tickets for the 1:05 departure. As it was only 12:15, Mark of course wanted to go somewhere to eat lunch - no sense risking missing a meal, after all.

I tend to get a little stressed when at airports, train stations, and bus stations close to departure times. I like to have plenty of time to chill out and not worry about missing departure times. Mark has no such worries. I caved and we went for lunch, with the caveat that it was close to the train station. Our lunch arrived at 12:35. I told him I wanted to leave at 12:50 at the latest (all the while checking my watch). We did make the train, with, according to Mark, plenty of time. I think we were in our seats for all of 5 minutes before the train began to move.

The train ride from Danang to Hue is really beautiful. Mark spent all of the time in the vestibule at the open window admiring the view and snapping pics. I couldn't bring myself to leave the air conditioning of the car (such that it was.) I dozed a bit, looked out the window a bit, and began reading the novel that I "borrowed" from our hotel "3 Moons Over Vietnam". I think it will be a good read for the trip.

The train follows the coast for almost the entire time, and there are some pretty spectacular views as the train winds around the mountainside. I hope Mark got pictures, as the train's windows definitely needed a bath. Luckily the local kids along the route didn't throw big rocks at the windows as we had been warned. At least not on this trip, but there was evidence of such misbehavior.

Arrived at Hue to the throng of touts outside the station and the many calls of "need taxi?" and "need hotel?" We decided to take a cyclo to our hotel - less than $1.00 for a 10-15 minute ride. Much more enjoyable than hiking through town with a heavy backpack.

That's all for now. Going for dinner soon!

PS Did you notice that there's hardly anything about food in this entry??