Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Hue, Vietnam
May 05, 2009
I had All Bran with peanut butter and raisins, rye bread with mustard, balsamic vinegar, meat, cheese, tomato, basil and cucumber, a coconut muffin with peanut butter and lime marmalade. Bill had watermelon, croissants, meat, cheese, and a crepe with cinnamon and sugar.
After breakfast we walked around the town for an hour or two to take some pictures. We bought 3 faux antique plates for $10 USD and an ink pad for $2 USD.
We went back to the hotel for our free 15 minute head and neck massage. It was wonderful! We were in the same room and Bill had a female masseuse and I had a male masseuse!
We went back to the room, showered and packed up. We checked out at noon.
I went to the book shelves at the outside sitting area and trade three of my books for The Memory Keepers Daughter (very good so far) and A Florentine Death.
Bill went to use the internet and I went to get some sun by the pool.(on my legs only, I am pretty burnt). Bill joined me 45 minutes later, we both had a quick dip in the pool to cool down and then we ordered lunch.
Bill had the beef burger with the Villa Maria white wine and I had a nicoise salad with a tomato shake with ginger, basil and sweet red pepper. It was all good!
A minivan picked us and three other couples up. We were dropped at the travel agency and waited for 20 - 30 minutes for the bus. When we got on the bus it was already full. We sat it the back which had two seats filled with bags and three open seats. There were already bags on the floor at our feet and in the aisle. We had to share the three seats with a couple who got off at Danang.
I was actually quite comfortable for our ride once the other couple were dropped off. We had rain on the way to Danang and at other points during our ride.
We went through a mountain tunnel while on the bus. That is much better and faster than driving up and over like we have in every other country.
Bill napped for some of the drive while I read my new book.
Along the way we stopped once for a break. One of the ladies wanted CDN coins, but I did not have any, so I gave her two CDN pins for her children. While we were stopped Bill shared some of his chips with children who were playing in the yard beside the rest stop. He also gave them one of the shuttle cocks which they fought over. A boy and one end and a girl had the other end. They both hung on for a long time, but the girl finally lost her grip when they both were down on the ground. She was not happy!
We stopped a couple of times to pick up more passengers. For the last hour we had someone else sitting beside us.
We arrived in Hue (pronounced Hugh Eh) between 6 and 6:30. Our bus ride had taken more than the 4 hours that we were told it would take. (surprise, surprise)
We found a metered cab to take us to our hotel. He decided to take the scenic route and made the mistake of returning to the same intersection after going by the river. I, not so politely, asked him to take us directly to our hotel.
We are staying at Victory Hotel. It is OK, nothing special, smells a bit musty, but looks clean.
After checking in we walked toward the riverfront went to Ushi for dinner. We selected this restaurant because it had tacos on the menu! Happy Cinco De Mayo!
Bill ordered beef taco (and received only one), so I shared my chicken fajita pizza with him. I had ordered a Vietnamese iced tea, but cancelled it when I saw that they had margaritas on the drink list, but ended up with both. Bill had the closest thing to a Corona, Hue Beer!
There was a large group of people at the table next to us. They were from various places around the world - Canada, US, Europe, UK. Bill said, "Happy Cinco de Mayo" to them. after a short time a few of them disappeared and returned a while later with a bottle of tequila to celebrate with. They even came over and had a shot with us!
We went to the DMZ Club after dinner and Bill had a Corona and I had another margarita. They had coconut covered peanuts that were really good. Bill even liked them!
Bill bought a North Face duffle bag for our extra luggage for 120,000 dong. Then we took two cyclos back to our hotel for 30,000 dong each.
We used the hotel internet until midnight and then went to bed.