Well, I had to wait 6 hours in a hotel in Ninh Binh for the sleeper bus to Hue, but had a long conversation with Hien, a young teacher, working in the hotel to try and learn English, and I was her tutor for 3 hours. We spent a long time practising long vowel sounds which are not familiar to the Vietnamese so, if the sun ever comes out, Hien will be able to say "it is warm" in perfect English. Thankyou for your company Hien.
The sleeper bus could more accurately be called the bus. Sleep is difficult but managed enough to get me through the net day in Hue. Met up with Patrick, Maryline and Sabine from Switzerland and we took a taxi to the Holiday hotel and then a 5 hour cruise on the Perfume river to see the temples and tombs of the Nguyen Emperors. (pictures to follow, no card reader here.)
My Swiss companions..
We had a very pleasant day on the river though, beautiful, wide (driver, wedge or nine iron), cultivated all along the banks right to the water edge, with trees and palms behind and the people working in the fields in their conical hats, a classic image of Vietnam.
our "dragon" boat...
My investment in a plastic coat is paying off, it has drizzled since I got here.
The hotel room was so comfortable, paid $15 but wonderful shower, comfortable bed and the best night's sleep since I got here. Then this morning took a cyclo (those guys work hard) for 1 hour, to the Citadel and walked around the (no longer) Forbidden City. The Citadel was built around 1800 by the Nguyen Emperors, an imitation of the Chinese version in Beijing and is on a massive scale. The square walls must be 2.5km long, 6m high and surrounded by a deep moat. Inside the temples and pagodas of the emperors are crumbling but were clearly at one time magnificent. Unfortunately the emperors did not include Macdonalds arches into their designs so, having little cultural merit, the Americans decided to bomb the Citadel heavily during the war.
To give an idea of scale, this is one from the edge of the Citadel looking towards the gate in the centre of the walls.
Well it continues to rain here and I am fleeing south to try and find the climate I came here for. Catching the 1.30 bus to Hoi An and plan to spend 2 or 3 days there. Have prebooked a hotel for the massive price of $20/night but right in the centre with all amenities. It sounds a lot paying 320,000 Dong per night, 1 million if I stay for 3 but it calculates to only 30 pounds!
Arrived in Hoi An after a 3 hour bus ride. As we passed over the mountains outside Danang.....it stopped raining!! Temperature is back to tee shirt in the evening, first time my fleece has been off since Hanoi.
1 comment:
Showed Jules your blog tonight. She says that you are very cool and the most underrated of the Lewis'!!
Kath xx
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