Vietnam - Hue

After nearly 4 weeks of perfect sunshine and hot weather, I had my first horribly weather day. I left sunny Hoi An for Hue on Wednesday morning at 8am, and arrived 3 and a half hours later. It's amazing how much the weather can change just by driving three hours north! As I got off the bus it was a little windy and a bit chilly. However I thought it would fine up, so I went to my hotel, and changed into a singlet and shorts and shirt over the top, and headed out with Cuba, a moto driver who worked at the hotel.

For $12 he took me around to all the main sights, aswell as a few off the normal tourist trial. I went to the tomb of Tu Duc, the tomb of Minh Mang, and some pagodas aswell. When I finished at the last Pagoda, Cuba said he could take me to an old army combat base up on the hill if I wanted a really good view of the River. Once we got there, he explained to me that this was the equivilent of "lovers lane" for the Vietnamese and was where they guys took there girlfriends to hang out....and other stuff....(!!). Sure enough, once we walked to the top, there they all were sitting on Moto's, or on blankets over looking the river. It was hillarious...! However, the view was fantastic so I got some great pictures....

Just as we left the Vietnamese "lovers lane", it absolutely poured down with rain. I didn't take my rain jacket out with me so I got absolutely saturated! I learned my lesson pretty damn quick though....always stuff your jacket in the bottom of your bag and never take it out!!

That night I headed to the DMZ Bar on the main street next to the river, where I hung out with a really nice couple from Birmingham. We proceeded to get rather drunk on Tiger Beer and Rice Wine and hung about there till about Midnight. Suffice to say the next day, I was a little worse for wear...so I spent the whole day loading pictures onto face book which you can view by clicking the links to the right of your screen.....

The next day I headed out to the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) about 230 k's north of Hue. The DMZ is the border then used to separate the communist North Vietnam to the Capitalist South. One thing I learned very quickly on thsi tour is how the Vietnamese do not refer to the Vietnam War as the Vietnam War. They refer to it as the "American War".

I spent about an hour crawling and walking through the Vin Moch tunnel, which were used as a living area for North Vietnamese families during the war. To think families lived down there terrifying, as it was so small, damp and dark. I kept smacking my head on the roof every time we had to go down some stairs....!

From there we went driving through the mountains, which is where alot of the battles took place. The mountains used to be covered in thousands of acres of Jungle. However, once the Americans started throwing agent orange around everywhere, they all burned up...and now nothing will grow properly there. They currently estimate that perhaps in a thousand years the jungle will be back to half of what it was.

We then stopped at a former military base, where there was a collection of photographs and memoriblilla from the battle of Keh San. For obvious reasons, it was all Pro North Vietnam, and it was interesting too see it all from a different perspective.

When we went to leave, our bus broke down, three times within half an hour. Each time everybody had to get out and push it along so it could start again! Well, nearly everyone. I choose to watch and take pictures instead...its probably the one and only time I will use the fact I am a women to get out of something!

We eventually found our way back to the hotel, where I had dinner with a great couple from Glasgow, and finished the night having a few beers out the front of the hotel with Cuba and his mates...a true authentic Vietnamese experience....!

The following night I jumped on yet another night bus, and headed for Hanoi....