Hue

Another spare moment as I'm waiting for people to get ready so we can go eat! So here's an update of my past couple of days.

The bus arrived in Hue at 8.30am and we were met by a lady from the hostel who took us there, got us booked in and gave us breakfast while we waited for our room to be ready. The hostel is absolutely gorgeous! It's all open fronted with our rooms leading straight onto the veranda/balcony thing. There's deck chairs and sunshine and it was just bliss! We all practically jumped at the opportunity just to sit out in the sun. Tom pulled out his guitar (which everyone including me has now signed) so we had music to doze to. We really didn't do much that day, but it was needed!

We went for lunch at this little cafe and the waitress gave us an English menu where the prices were more expensive than the Vietnamese on the wall. When we pointed this out she straight away agreed to give us the 'local' price. This happens everywhere but she was lovely and wanted to practice her English with us. She showed us a book called 'Instant English for School Learners' - an English text book which contained the fantastic phrases "Hello, I am Tom Cruise. Is Mr. Bush at home? I would like to see him" and, under the food section, "It looks like you are gaining weight"!! The food was also delicious and the waitress tried to teach us 'thank you' and 'goodbye' in Vietnamese (cam on and cam bien).

Between 5pm and 6pm at the hostel it was free beer. Some lovely ice cold bottles from the cool box were just what was needed. I couldn't believe they just give away beer but the Australian guy who owns the hostel is very cool. We asked him if this Backpackers was better than the one we'd stayed at in Hanoi. His response? "Yep, the bar is open an hour and a half longer"!! It was really good to just chill out in the sun. We were told the temperature was 29 degrees. Woo! We met up with some Auzzies who thought they knew where some good food for dinner was so we followed them across the river and into the Citadel, but it seemed too far away so our group turned back. We went into the first cafe we found and sat down, expecting a menu but they just started bringing us food. Turns out the only food they serve there is a local speciality called bahn khoai, which are meant to be a bit like tacos stuffed with pork and shrimp. I gave my shrimp away but the rest of it was nice. The lady in the cafe took pity on us as we were not sure how to eat it so she showed us the correct way. All the women kept laughing at us and we're not sure why! It might have been because two of the boys tried to go into the bathroom at the same time, or it might have been because we were making a mess of the food. Either way, it was a little disconcerting. That evening we sat in the bar and Tom brought down his guitar so we could all have a sing-a-long (and he could get a free drink!).

Our second day in Hue was spent chilling out in the morning and then going on an afternoon tour of the Citadel and Imperial City, and visiting the Thien Mu Pagoda. There were real monks! There was also the blue Austin car that Thich Quang Duc drove (the monk that burned himself to death in Saigon in 1963 to protest against the treatment of Buddhists in Vietnam). We caught a boat back down the Perfume River to our hostel, just in time for free beer! ;) That evening me, Charlie boy and a Kiwi girl called Sylvia ended up back at the restaurant we ate lunch at the day before and we had the same waitress. Her name is Quynh and she was lovely! She came and sat with us through dinner to chat. We exchanged email addresses and I promised her I'd email her some of the photos we took. Charlie proposed to her, so it was a really funny meal. Later that evening a group of us went to a very bizzarre club called "Browneyes" just around the corner from our hostel. It reminded me of an empty Jesters. Funnily enough we didn't stay long!

At lunch the next day we went back to see Quynh and had a very entertaining meal. The boys got their hair cut at a Vietnamese salon. I went along to laugh. That evening Quynh showed up on her motorbike and took first Charlie and then me around the city. We were gone about an hour. Had a look at the Citadel and she took me to meet her friend, which was lovely. Spent the evening chilling back at the hostel. I've learned a couple of chords of guitar. Well, mostly just 'c' :D

The next morning we left our bags at the hostel and checked out. We decided to motorbike it down the 160km from Hue to Hoi An Top Gear-style so have got some little automatic motorbikes and a guide - Mr. Ty. We had a quick practice up and down the street outside the hostel, figuring out how to start it and (importantly) stop it. Is actually not as hard as I thought. No gears to worry about, just twist the handle to go and use the brakes to stop! At 9am we set off. There was eight of us in total - the four Londoners, Swiss Andy and two English girls called Helen and another Charlie!!!

Our first challenge was getting out of Hue, which really was a challenge as the main crossroads have no lights or directions, just a free-for-all. But once we were on the main road, apart from the occasional large trucks and buses it was fine. Oh and the animals. Charlie (boy) almost hit a chicken and I had to do an emergency stop as a stupid dog ran back into the road after nearly being hit by the bike in front of me. Luckily I didn't hit it but it gave me a very disapproving look. Crazy animal. We stopped off at a fishing village and then at a gorgeous waterfall for a properly needed swim as we were all super hot and sweaty! We also stopped off at some American outpost in the mountains along the coastal road where we were swamped by women trying to sell stuff. Not so fun, but the road itself was beautiful! Drove through Danang and had a brief break on the beach and at the marble carving centre.

In total the journey took us eight hours, arriving in Hoi An around 5pm. Ended up rather sunburned so we were all glowing nicely! It was amazing fun, though we wished our guide had been a little better. He stopped somewhere (fairly) expensive for lunch so none of us ate there. Our meal that evening was fantastic as a result though! Plus they did 600ml bottles of Tiger beer for 20.000VD (66p). :D And we all have the motorbike bug so chances are we're going to hire them again!