Heading south to Hue

A taxi to the airport and short plane journey to Hue.

Next week is the start of their New Year called Tet, and they have a long holiday and celebrate in style. The airport was full of uniformed officer cadets going home for the holiday. Our plane was obviously on charter to cater for the increased numbers.

It was lovely sitting in the plane above the clouds seeing that strange colour above us! But as we descending the clouds were dappled and we arrived in Da Nang to sunshine and 28 degrees. It was absolute bliss. A car was waiting for us to make the two hour ride to Hue.

The ride was like doing a tour as we drove through Da Nang on the beach road by the ocean. The fields were green with rice paddies and the hills lush. We drove for about 45 kilometres before coming to a tunnel which was amazing. It went on for about 2 kilometres, what engineering.

The problem is that when we came out the other end it was raining and continued all day. Back to normal then.

Well our hotel, the Saigon Morin is quite different from all the others so far. It is a French colonial building and stunning.  We have a nice room over looking the courtyard, a cocktail bar, two restaurants and a swimming pool, and right in the centre of town by the Perfumed River.

It has a amazing history, was in the middle of a huge battle during the American War and partially rebuilt afterwards.

I really like the feel of Hue. I know we are staying in the centre, but it just feels good. Pacamacs on we went for a walk around the back. Lovely French colonial architecture everywhere, but it lovely to see the little shops, cafes and street coffee stools there too.  We found a laundry for tomorrow and a place to come back to eat in the evening.

Well we picked a restaurant that night that was Fawlty Towers Vietnamese style!  We pointed at spring rolls to start, and half and hour later got some other dish that was about as far from spring rolls as you could get. It went back.  I got my Satay chicken, which didn't resemble any Satay I've ever eaten (think it was something else) but delicious. But half an hour later Rod hadn't had his. They had forgotten to cook it. Half an hour later he got his. Then we got our spring rolls. It was bizarre but we entered into the spirit.

When we had arrived there had been furious activity, people washing floors, moving furniture around. We assumed it was the rain, but we saw official looking people writing notes and taking pictures. Then we discovered that just before we had arrived there had been a monumental punch up between two local older men. It was fisticuffs and blood all over the floor. Didn't realise  they provided caberet. Pity we missed it.

After sending the bill back twice, we finally got the correct amount. Don't think we will be going back there again. But it was entertaining.