IT’S A LONG WAY FROM SYDNEY TO HUE—nine hours and 4300 miles through four time zones to Saigon another 600 miles to the Imperial City. Fewer than half of the A330’s seats were occupied on the Sydney-Saigon leg so we each had an entire row to ourselves. The four-hour layover in Ho Chi Minh City gave us plenty of time for immigration—our visas easily passed muster—claim our luggage, pass through customs, check in for the final leg, endure security, grab a bite and go to the gate for the flight to Hue. Whew!
Livnig it up at the Saigon Morin Hotel, Hue
Charlie Chaplin Slept Here
Real French Bread, part of the Breakfast Buffet
We became instant millionaires at the ATM where $80 got us 2,000,000 Vietnamese dong and 280,000 of it, less than twelve bucks, went for the 30-minute taxi trip to our hotel. Saigon Morin Hotel overlooks the Thua Thien Bridge on the Perfume River as it has since 1901. When I asked the manager if Uncle Ho had stayed here he said no, but Charlie Chaplin had! Our room isn’t as elegant as Suite 111 but it’s a bit more luxurious than the $18 Phong Nha Hotel where we stayed in 2008. Heck, the breakfast buffet included in the $75 price would cost more than $18 in most hotels! There was a lot of American being spoken at breakfast—a “do-gooder” group based in Ohio touring Vietnam and admiring their good deeds. I figured some of the men “of a certain age” for Vietnam vets and it turns out that one joined the Americal Division just as I was returning to “the World.”
Sunday Morning Suicide Squad
It's called Capitalism
There is no shortage of Cyclo drivers in Hue
Desperate for a Sale
We aren’t sure if today was a special holiday or if these were just typical Sunday crowds. Streets were packed and all the shops were open—a victory for capitalism? Hundreds of motorbikes and scooters rushed in all directions, honking and seeming heedless of rules of the road, but somehow, like in Cairo, no one dies—not yet, anyhow. Dozens of cyclos, those bicycle/rickshaw hybrids, wait on every corner hoping for a customer. We turned aside their offers, likewise boat trips from every Dragon Boat operator and the artist who painted wonderfully on silk who dogged us for a full block until we escaped. With an average monthly salary of $300, these are make-or-break moments for many.
Walkway across Perfume River on Thua Thien Bridge
Pretty Girls All in a Row
We crossed the Perfume River on quarter-mile long Thua Thien Bridge heading for the Imperial Citadel where a huge crowd was waiting to enter. We had visited the Citadel in ’08—today we were content just to walk and people watch. John especially watched the young women dressed in their traditional ao dai.
Imperial Palace
Moat around Imperial Palace
Sneaking a peek inside the Imperial Palace
Nanming Fortress and Vietnamese Flag
We walked along the moat, across bridges, peaking into arched entrances. There were hundreds of kids, many dressed as if for Instagram photos, others sitting in pods practicing English to an English-speaker dragooned from the passing tourists. We demurred, using the light rain just beginning to fall as an excuse. The weather had been threatening all day and the abysmal air quality played havoc with our allergies.
Posing in front of Imperial Palace
Girl with a Fan
Inpromptu English lesson
We had passed the DMZ GastroPub earlier in the day and decided to try its western menu for dinner—we will get enough ethnic fare in the next three weeks. The food, lasagna and seafood pasta, was pretty good and the music much, much to loud but the price was great, about $15 with drinks.
DMZ Gastropub—if it's too loud, you're too old. Too True!
Then we risked life and limb by crossing the street to take photos of the illuminated bridge reflecting in the Perfume River before heading home to rest our jet-lagged bodies. There may be massages in our future.
Lanterns and Thua Thien Bridge at Night
Perfume River Dragon Boats and Thua Thien Bridge
