Friday, August 29th
On the 8am bus from Hoi An to Hue a song that I don't recall ever hearing before on my ipod - Paul Hardcastle's "Nineteen" - starts playing via the shuffle function. As I sit there, watching the beautiful Vietnamese landscape through the window, I listen to the lyrics which are about the Vietnamese-American war - the song is called "Nineteen" as that was the average age of the soldiers in the war (in World War Two it was 26). As it was one of some 4200 songs that could come up on my ipod, I had to smile at the coincidence. What's more, the song makes repeated reference to Saigon, the city which was printed on the headrests of all the bus seats. As I listened to the lyrics about the thousands who died, the guilt that plagued the soldiers and their lack of recogition as heros on returning home, I thought back to the war museum we went to in Saigon, the rubble we had seen surrounding buildings in Quy Nhon and the hard times Vietnam and its people have gone through (living under a thousand years of Chinese rule until the 10th century and then Fench colonisation before the internal war and war with America). We passd a huge graveyard as the song was still playing and I wondered if victims from the war were burried there. I can't say it's musically the best song I have ever heard but how wonderful music is when it connects you to a place you are in like that.
After arriving in Hue and negotiating a room for $9 (confirming our suspicion derived from a collection of experiences that you always have to question the price of things at least 3 times in Vietnam), we set off into the blazing midday heat and the incident that I have always dreaded happens. Whilst getting money out of a bank, I get distracted talking to Robbie and suddenly see the machine ask me one last time to take my card before it sucks it back. Luckily the bank was open but when the girl inside asked me how long we were in Hue for and started talking about having to phone someone to come to the machine, my heart sank again, imagining I wouldn't be able to get my card back for a number of days (my flash thoughts were: are banks open on Saturdays? ... next Tuesday is a national holiday so will the Monday also be a holiday? ... if we stayed here longer would we be able to do all we planned without our visas running out?...). Then, in the next instant, I realised it had happened again: I had fallen for what I am beginning to think is the Vietnamese's favourite hobby - making tourists feel that there is a problem when, in fact, there isn't. "Oh, it is no problem, you come back here at 4pm and we give you your card." Huge sigh of relief and mental note to myself to avoid talking to anybody when withdarwing cash in the future.
We spent the afternoon visiting "The Forbidden Purple City" (what a name!) within the Imperial Enclosure of the "Citadel" and were impressed. According to the travelling bible (The Lonely Planet), one of the Emperors of the Nguyen dynasty was quite a fussy man and would order 50 different dishes to be served by 50 different waiting staff each day. Fulfilling the demands of the emperor must have been what occupied the people of Hue before they started selling water and moped rides to tourists!
Saturday, August 30th
After being convinced by a woman in the cafe opposite our hotel that the boat rides in Hue are all a con, my day started with a motorbike, or better said, moped ride around the main sights surrounding Hue. Robbie didn't fancy it so it was just me and my Vietnamese driver/guide. The tour cut right through the countryside surrounding Hue and was fantastic for getting true glimpses of life away from the town. We passed through peaceful villages next to busy rice fields, visited an old American war bunker overlooking the Huong River (at the other side of which the Viet Cong had been based) and stopped off at a chaotic market before I was deposited at a number of entrances of temples, pagodas and the tomb of Khai Dinh. The "guided tour" wasn't therefore so much guided when it came down to the sights but given the heat I was fine with just casually walking around the temples etc., imagining the history myself. My guide was also a very good driver which I was grateful for.
Back at the hotel, Robbie wasn't feeling up to much sight seeing in Hue so I suggested we book the bus to Hanoi for this evening instead of tomorrow. He agreed to the idea so we now have tickets to leave today at 5pm and should arrive in the present day capital (Hue was the national capital until 1945) at 7am tomorrow morning. Let's hope there are some toilet stops on the way!
