hue

Posted in hue, vietnam by Nathalie Farigu on October 18, 2009

We left Hanoi on Friday morning and took the plane to Hue. The flight was less than an hour and when we arrived we took the bus, all backpacker style, into the city. We got dropped off at some point and managed to find our hotel without too much trouble. We’re staying at the Orchid Hotel, which is really quite fantastic. So yes, I’m taking these places as a real treat as on my own I would never stay here because they’re just above my budget.

The first day in Hue was a bit of a downer. It lacked the character and hustle and bustle of Hanoi. It seemed very quiet here and we saw quite a few ‘tourist restaurants’. However, the next day we ventured into the Old City and it was wonderful. Hardly any tourists, just locals going about their non-tourist business. Lots of little streets with wonderfully coloured houses in French colonial style. We ended up having a great day with a wonderful lunch.

Later, at our dinner place, Cathi bar, we were served by a bunch of giggly girls, who had picked up a tiny bit of Dutch. They thought us some useful Vietnamese. They were both looking for a nice guy, with a ‘hot body’ as their first priority. Though we didn’t find any hot bodies at the DMZ bar later, we did have fun just chilling out on the covered patio, drinking Ricard and Campari.

Today started off with a lot of rain. It rained quite a bit yesterday as well, but we still had about 6 hours of dry weather, though barely any sunshine. Today it was only dry for a few hours, in which we ventured out to check out a large supermarket as well as a bit more of the Old City. After we got back we watched some ridiculous Viet music videos before we headed off for a massage. The place looked legit from the outside but once we were in there, it looked like a whorehouse. I’ve never had a girl in a tiny mini skirt and high hooker heels give me a massage. The massage was okay. It was a hot stone massage, though I really do prefer a Thai massage even if it hurts sometimes. After the massage we had a decent pizza and headed back to our hotel. Just feeling so lazy and exhausted.