Day 6 - to Hue

There's something about Vietnam mornings. Theyre always refreshing and cool, and misty. In Los Angeles, you just can't go outside in the morning and take a deep breath without coughing and gagging. Quynh took an early run before we all woke up to go and get my bike, and I notice my bike is parked in the driveway. "It works" he says. After having a bowl of rice noodles and chicken with vietnamese coffee we were good to go.

We back track from Khe Sanh to hit the Ho Chi Minh Highway and the unthinkable happens. My bike goes yet again. Quynh gets on the phone with Anh back in Hanoi and me and the guys hang out and interact with locals. Meanwhile, I'm starting to feel a bit sick. The clouds have burned off and it's getting hot. My bike is broke and Im starting to feel a little queasy. I hope this isn't a bad sign. Quynh gets off the phone and he tells me Hue isn't that far away and that it would be much easier to repair the bike properly in the city. So out came the trusty rope. Martin jokes that Id better hope that the rope doesnt break. At this point my nausea gets slightly worse.




It took us a few hours to get to Hue, and the whole time, the other guys kept stopping to take pics, then slingshot past us, stop again, rocket off, etc.. They thought it was amusing. This definitely made the ride more interesting and fun right? It felt like a proper "journey". Who am I kidding? It got old quick! We finally start entering Hue and the roads become wider, smoother and traffic gets thicker and thicker. Just as we start entering the city's arterial roads, Quynh motions to stop. He takes the rope off and packs it away. I ask him if he's going to get a truck to load the bike, and he says "no, Im going to push you buy sticking my leg out and pushing your passenger foot rest." My mouth was gaping as I was trying to envision how to do this. He instructed me to keep the bike as stable as possible not making sudden turns as he will do his best to keep with me as he keeps constant pressure from his right foot. As were putting along, were moving slow, like less than 30kph. Swarms of scooter traffic go around me like a huge school of fish, with their passengers looking back at us seeing what was going on.. I had no time to take in the sights of the city while concentrating, but the city appeared beautiful. It was bustling, but there was a different vibe compared to the north of Vietnam. This must have come from France's influence.

I manage to awkwardly navigate us around to the hotel and afterwards we both sigh a big relief. That being over, my stomach was killing me and I had to go find something fast. I figured it was in due time since travelers sickness is somewhat expected. Al calls it the "proper shits". So I check in, wash up, and walk the streets to find a drug store. As I walk the streets, I notice Hue has a distinctive mixture of quaint European and Asian thriving bustle to it. The streets were small and some areas were also cobble stone. The buildings too, were layed out very French style. I badly did not want my killing stomach to degrade any of my experience here. So I managed to find a stand with an old woman working behind it. She spoke enough english to understand what I needed, and seeing as she gets alot of tourists, she had no problem picking out exactly what I needed, some Immodium. Bought it, went to a cafe and got some Tra gung tea to take the meds.



We had lunch at a french vietnamese restaurant and the French-Canadian guys had a ball conversing with the french owner. I ordered something or other, something pretty good, but small portioned. After that some more walking about. Al and I again headed off in our own direction and walked the streets. This city had so much to do, lots of great parks, shops, cafes and of course history, mainly the Citadel. And of course, street food. The main reason I kept my lunch light. It was great to go venture out and try a bunch of stuff. What I didn't get was how it seemed Al and I were among just a few tourists to venture out and try stuff on our own. The other guys went to go back to the tourist pubs. Why come all the way out here to eat spaghetti and drink Budweiser? Its a pretty common sight in cities with tourists. When in Rome,... right? Meeting again for dinner, we wound up in some place that served, dun dun dun- Italian. Again I ordered just an appetizer and "Peroni", and after Quynh picked up the check, Al and I split and walked about. What I like about asia in the evenings is the street vendors come alive.. Garish neon lit tents, with people everywhere standing around just having a good time with one another eating and chatting. We stopped at a tent that served "Bun Bo Hue", or rice noodle soup, Hue style. We were the only tourists there, sitting under a green tent in those tiny red plastic chairs. And boy was the food awesome. Al wasn't too keen on some of the ingredients though. Still a champ for giving it a shot. The night ends pretty late as there was lots to see in Hue. I already knew this was my favorite of the cities so far.