Hue

The night train turned out to be good fun. We shared a cabin with a quiet Vietnamese guy but met our new friends outside in the corridor – a German girl (Anette) and two Spanish guys (Carlos and Jordi).
Anette was heading the same way as us and the guys were getting off the train a couple of stops after us, renting motorbikes and heading to Hue as well. We went to the restaurant car and ordered some beers and noodles to help pass the time. We stayed up til around 10.30 when we were kicked out by the yawning staff and then headed off to our carriages to bed. Surprisingly we slept really well, it's amazing what a difference some earplugs and an eye mask make – trains are the way forward in Vietnam – much better than bus drivers who beep their horn every second of the journey and drop you off at their cousins' restaurants. Luckily we were able to avoid getting a taxi upon arriving in Hue as our hotel sent us a free pickup (www.ngocbinhhotel.com) – it was a cheap and cheerful place in a nice part of town.

Hue town is a UNESCO world heritage sight so we decided to take a day tour to take in the sights of three temples, the citadel, a famous pagoda and a boat ride on the river.
The group was quite large and Al and I were among the youngest there, but it was still a great way to spend the day and see all the sights for a couple of dollars.




This was our singing tour guide who, half way through the trip, announced that he would sing for us, whipped out his microphone and gave us a rendition of the latest Vietnamese number one!

Al relaxing in a cafe/market stall after a hard day's temple gazing::
The temples were really impressive but the citadel, which had been heavily bombed in the war, was very run down and they were rebuilding it with plastic (plastic columns and statues) which looked really tacky. Our guide told us that the inner section of the temple was a private area for the king and his concubines, the only other males allowed in here were eunuchs. Our guide made sure that he carefully explained to us what a eunuch is: “There are two types eunuch – one is man who has cut off his valuables. The other is same as a homosexual – you know homosexual? Person who is born with both a vagina and penis.” He clearly hadn't been listening in biology class.

Our evenings in Hue were spent playing pool and sampling different happy hours with our Spanish and German friends. We have been really impressed with Vietnamese food – it is seriously the best we have had on our travels so far. Each town has its own specialities and they are all imaginative and delicious. So all of the weight that we lost in China has been added on... back to the gym when we get home!

Our bus to Hoi An (the next stop on our trail), 4 hours away, was definitely interesting... you never quite know what you are paying for in this country until you are actually in the middle of it and cursing the travel agent. We booked a bus to Hoi An, complete with hotel pickup for a great price. However the hotel pickup consisted of a man coming to our hotel and leading us to the bus station... not quite what we had envisaged. And the bus turned out to be a sleeper bus, complete with fully reclined bunk beds and a 'no shoes' rule - which meant stinky feet all round.

Al was good enough to warn the bus driver: “are you aware that if I take my shoes off people will die!” but to no avail. Despite all this the bus ride went smoothly and we arrived on time (little detour of course to the cousin's restaurant included).