Day 12 of 36
Hanoi, Vietnam to Hue, Vietnam
Flight 7 of 18
342 miles of 22,121 total miles
I woke up early about 6:30 - refreshed and ready to travel to Hue, Vietnam. Tim slept for a while. I showered, dressed, and packed. Once he got up, we walked to Highlands Coffee at the Opera House in the gardens for our coffees and croissant with ham and cheese. Good for about $11.
We returned to the hotel and checked out and our hotel BMW driver (in uniform with hat) was ready to drive us to the airport. Traffice was a challenge and we saw another wreck. The driver told us about 22 people are killed each day due to traffic accidents - mostly minibikers.
Checkin was easy at Vietnam Airlines at the Hanoi Airport. Everything was right on time for our 45 minute flight from Hanoi to Hue. Nice plane, an Airbus, and it was only about 1/2 full.
The Hue airport was small but efficient and the luggage came our relatively quickly. I bought a taxi coupon for 170,000 (less than $10) for the drive from the airport directly to our hotel. The city was very clean. Just as in Hanoi, the merchants are constantly sweeping the sidewalks and in some cases the streets. The taxi driver honked the entire way as if he was saying "Get out of my way!".
We checked in to La Residence Hotel on the Perfume River in Hue. Beautiful facility - not many people here - we think this is off season as it is the rainy season here. We received a welcome drink but we don't know what it was and it had lots of seeds in it so whatever it was it was freshly squeezed or prepared. They upgraded out room to a river view and tried to talk us into upgrading to a higher floor (with a better view?) for more money. We declined.
We had lunch at the hotel. Tim had a Vietnamese lunch that he devoured and relished. Larry had a burger! We booked tours for Thursday and Friday with the hotel agent.
We then headed off on foot for the Citadel and Forbidden Purple City. It was massive and interesting but in pretty bad shape. A lot of it was destroyed during the Vietnam War and they are trying to rebuild it. Their techniques willl take a long time.
It was SO HOT and we both got overheated but we enjoyed the walk. We tried to walk back in the shade. We passed a man on a bicycle carrying a HUGE black chest on the front of his bike - amazing what they carry on bicycles and minibikes.
We are getting better and more comfortable crossing the streets. We walked back to the hotel , did email, napped (Tim slept about 2 hours!) and cooled off for dinner. We decided to try to stay out of the hot mid-day sun if possible.
We took a taxi to the center of Hue to the Tropical Garden restaurant. Larry had a Hue set menu for less than $11 and Tim had a couple of dishes. Most was good and interesting. There was one course (of 6) that Larry couldn't eat - it looked really gross. Red jelly lumps in gelatin wrapped in leaves. I just couldn't eat it. But it was a good experience.
We walked around the center of Hue and were approached by several women (wonder what they wanted) and men (lady bang bang?) and several cyclo drivers. We found a taxi and took it back to the hotel, caught up on email and went to sleep. We are both exhausted.
An exciting day of exploring. Tomorrow we take a boat trip on the Perfume River and visit several temples and tombs. Each day something new.
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