Hue

We arrived and were met by a woman from the Sports Hotel (a recommendation from the guy at the Sunny), but there was a bit of kerfuffle about actually finding a cab.  When a cab was found, it only had seats for five people, but there were six of us (including the driver and the woman from the hotel).  A squishy ride later, we arrived and were taken up to our room – 602, and the lift stops at the 5th floor.  Up another flight of stairs, my legs screaming every step, and then up over a platform in a corridor and down again.  Very weird, like the 6 1/2th floor in “Being John Malkovich”.  The room is pretty ordinary, a good view out the tiny (barred) window, but hardly worth the $25 we paid (because there wasn’t a cheaper room available).  I spoke to Mrs. Hotel, who said that the room would be “cheaper”.  I expect a bit of stoush when we check out tomorrow – especially since the tour we took today was waaay overpriced, the remote for the TV doesn’t work (and neither does the air-con), and there doesn’t seem to be enough hot water for both of us to have a hot shower.  I’m going first next time.  Oh, and the roof leaks.  Mark just got dripped on.

After stashing our stuff, putting the gadgets on charge, and scrubbing up a bit, we wandered out to find the Buddhist Veg restaurant that was recommended in the “Let’s Go” guidebook.  They recommended a bike ride, but my thighs weren’t up for it, and the weather wasn’t conducive either.  We found a friendly cab driver to take us, but it had been closed for many months.  He took us to another veg place which was just around the corner from the hotel, and we had a pleasant lunch.

Wandering around in the rain had limited charms, and we were both feeling wrecked from the train journey, so we hauled ass back to the hotel for a mid afternoon nap.  It was difficult to get up, but we had to arrange activities for the next day, so at 6pm we wandered down to the lobby to book the “Hue City Tour”.  Wandering around aimlessly in the rain is bad enough for one afternoon, we thought it might be better to do some guided wandering if the weather stayed bad.

Back to bed to watch some “Heroes” on the laptop, and then more sleep.  I thought I had slept OK on the train, but apparently not.  Or maybe we were catching up on jet lag. Still not feeling refreshed and wonderful, we had breakfast in the lobby (bread and egg), and played on the ancient PC’s that supplied internet at a snails pace until the bus arrived to take us on our tour.

First stop, the Imperial City.  I don’t have words to describe this ancient city, and my pictures in the rain won’t do it justice, but I am very glad we saw this, even in the rain.

We’re both wet through, and there were points in the day when I thought I couldn’t take another step, but we saw some of the important parts of the city, despite the weather being miserable, and our wet weather gear being inadequate.  I also had a moment of profound joy amongst the hustle and bustle of the tour, between fighting on and off the bus, and evil tourists dropping rubbish (which I compulsively had to pick up).  At the Thien Mu Pagoda, the rear of the pagoda area was boarded up for renovations, but behind the renovations is an important relic from Vietnamese buddhist history.  In 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a buddhist monk drove to Saigon and set himself on fire to protest the treatment of buddhists in Vietnam.  His car was taken to Hue, and can be seen at the Pagoda.  We skirted the renovations to see if we could find the car, but couldn’t.  We did find a temple, with a monk outside asking tourists to remove their shoes and raincoats before entering the sanctuary.  I could see a harried and annoyed look on his face, and judging by the way I had seen a lot of the tourists behaving, I felt rather sorry for him.  I took off my shoes and poncho, and turned to him with a smile and did my best imitation of a respectful prayer bow.  I have no clue about buddhist rituals, but I have a great respect for buddhists, and after having read about this extreme sacrifice, I was in quite a contemplative mood.  I don’t pray, and I certainly don’t pray to religions I don’t believe in, but when the monk smiled and ushered me in to the inner sanctum, and showed me how to kneel at the altar, I felt it was only right to do so.  I knelt, with hands clasped, and my forehead touching the altar, while the monk struck a bell that reverberated through the wooden altar, and also right through my head and chest.  I gave thanks for peaceful times in this beautiful country, and felt very blessed to have been welcomed here.

We boarded a Dragon Boat on the Perfume River back to Hue, and then bought our bus tickets to Hoi An for tomorrow morning.  Apparently it’s too wet to go to Bach Ma National Park, which is a great pity.  Dinner at a little Veg place with great spring rolls, booked a hotel in Hoi An (and forgot to get change for dinner, so it cost about double what it should).  Back to the hotel to try to dry off for tomorrows adventures.