I’ll condense these 2 days into 1 to save a bit of typing…
We rose early (5am pick-up from our hotel) to head off to My Son (pronounced, Mee Sun). They’re these very impressive ruins built back in the 4th century right through to the 13th century using a special type of bricks and a particular plant product in place of mortar. The end result is pretty bloody impressive – the bricks are divided by nothing it seems, yet hold a perfect form.
Unfortunately the Vietnam War affected some of the area and restoring is incredibly difficult given the lack of standard building methods not being able to be used. So you could say it was a bit “ruined” – boom-tish.
Thankfully for inspiration, Deb & Laura were able to use their nail polish for inspiration where many, many photos were taken with their french nails in view with the ruins providing an inspirational backdrop. Much fun was had by all! Except poor Hannah, who woke up feeling a bit crook and decided to pass on the journey.
For the rest of the afternoon, we looked around the town further including a first try-on of our tailored clothes – which, let’s just say, went well for some, not so much for others. For the sake of anonymity to protect the guilty, some were happy with what they got, some were ambivalent, some were rather displeased with the efforts of the local tailors. Some decided to get the hell out of there and go for a “fresh beer” in a pub near the river. Those 2 were particularly smart.
The tailors gave us notice that they’d be finished in the morning (the day we were to leave) and to come back then. Of course a local dinner was to ensue and some more drinks which ended a very enjoyable day.
The next morning, we picked up the clothes, happy that they were now pretty damn good, checked out of our “resort” – who knew that you must pay for resorts in cash only… And onto a “sleeper bus” we went. One thing of note – Laura & Glen popped outside to the local street vendor to grab some supplies for the 4hr+ journey to Hue and we bought some drinks and pringles off an elderly local woman. So for 2 large waters, 2 pringles and a can of drink was $5. We both pretty much got the same order so we handed over $10 or so.
She said to me as I left, “Thank you very much, I am very lucky today”. It kind of makes your heart sink and realise just how tough a lot of them do it here.
The bus ride to Hue was really quite nice. For those of you who haven’t experienced a sleeper bus, they’re very different to a traditional bus. Very large, they have fully recline-able seats and you stretch out in front – 2 stories of people… A pretty good way to travel!
The countryside between Hoi An and Hue is breathtaking… green rice fields with a huge mountain backdrop is a familar sight on one side whilst more rice fields butting up against the ocean with half-moon shaped bays to the other… Once through the enormous tunnel, you come out to a very mountainous area with sheer cliffs to the side. As you climb to the top, you see what’s to come which is a large decent down towards more water and just awesome driving roads… If only we had a motorbike or car! Unfortunately it’s a good 2hrs+ from either Hue or Hoi An so it’s a day in itself… Next time!
We arrive in Hue safely and find our hotel with a very expensive $1.20 cab ride. Speaking of money, the bus from Hoi An to Hue was a whopping $3.50 each… for 4hrs! Also, I bought a can of coke and some weird and chewy peanut type things at the half way pit-stop from a bunch of women selling refreshments. For $1.50 i got 8 of the peanut things + the coke and a massive thank-you smile from the local. Funny thing is though, they all sell the *exact* same thing. There’s no variation, so whether you pick woman 1 or woman 6 is totally down to luck… I guess that’s what the first woman meant by lucky… that’s all it’s down to.
After a brief walk around Hue, we realise it’s pretty different again to Saigon & Hoi An. It’s a very large but very nice city. No more annoying hawkers coming up to you – they rely on you approaching them which is refreshing. We had a large and very “local” dinner on a floating restaurant on the river as we watched the huge bridge fade from one colour to another. Very pretty.
Deb & Glen decided to head back to the hotel via “cyclos”… I think we got ripped off, as the price for 2 quickly became the price for one… but when you’re paying only $3 and it becomes $6 for 30mins, you don’t really care. They certainly need it more than us! The poor guys just sit around hoping that someone will pick them to take them back to their hotel… again, there’s that “luck” attitude.
Hannah, Laura & Ben went on a walk around the city and found, what do you know… some more markets. Apparently as you go further north, it gets cheaper, and that’s certainly true so far.
