After our final night in Hanoi, we went to
the airport to fly to Hue. There we were met by a bubbly guide and silent driver, who
took us to eat a quick ham and formaggio baguette, before trudging around the
site of the old imperial city in the hellish heat. We then relaxed in the regal
hotel, the Morin, built in 1901, very beautiful and French colonial. The room
was vast and comfortable, with a cool garden restaurant and pool to relax by.
Hue lifestyle seems a lot more chilled out,
with less people and bigger streets than the chaotic mazes of lanes in the old
quarter of Hanoi. We wandered the night market full of Chinese plastic crap,
and ate at a recommended restaurant before an early night. Being woken before
7am takes its toll on me, and traveling with Dad, who usually rises around 4am,
is definitely challenging.
A bright blue morning took us to Perfume
River for a loud boat trip to a pagoda, where photos were taken before sweatily
getting into the air-conditioned car and driven to a tomb site. The mausoleum
was quite like many temple grounds you see in Asia. As was the next one we
visited. I enjoyed the beauty of lotus ponds, and spotting butterflies and geckos around
the place. My favourite part of tripping around each of these touristy places
is admiring the glazed pottery used in roof tiles, and the mosaic in and around
each place depicting pictures of dragons and Chinese symbols of longevity.
After the exhaustingly hot stops here and
there we opted to go back to the hotel to relax a bit. Instead we ended up having a
quick swim in the pool and hopping out to take a bike-tuk ride to the big Dong
Ba Markets across the bridge. Here, we were hounded by the shop-owners, to the
point of complete frazzeldness! I got ripped off! My calculations between
Vietnamese Dong to USD to NZD was way off and we spent quite a bit on presents
for family and bits and pieces of general stuff. No worries, we headed back to
the hotel to find a Trip Advisor recommendation for dinner.
Off down the street, not far from our hotel but down a few small alleys,
we hit on Nina’s café, number 3 on TA. A family run restaurant, with smiley
people serving the food and drinks, in a shack-like outdoor setting of red
plastic chairs and things hanging everywhere, we ate a delicious meal mostly
recommended to us by the waitress. Music was old school and we enjoyed the
atmosphere and dinner so much, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel for
another early eve.
