A difficult country….

Hue, 30 July – 2 August

Ok, I will admit it: I am finding Vietnam a rather hard country to travel through… Heat, constant noise, lame food and pollution are all part of the reasons why. But the main problem, I’m sorry to say, is the people: with very few exceptions, most locals here will do anything they can to rip you off/steal some money from you/scam you in a way or another! So far we have been pretty smart and managed to avoid scams and bad rip-offs.Still, it has been exhausting: you need to check & double check absolutely everything, discuss each tiny detail, be always extremely careful, agree about anything in advance and haggle for everything! The general habit here is getting quoted a distorted price for anything, then the bargaining begins… as long as you know what the ‘correct’ price should be, at least (‘correct’ is a bit of an euphemism, but let’s say ‘right’ for Westerns…). I have become rather good with taxi drivers and have always managed to obtain the price I knew could be considered fair, not afraid to walk away from more than one driver if the price stayed too high….(sometimes Corvus thinks I should have given in, and that 50 cents/1 euro more or less does not really matter… But to me it is a matter or principle and I will not accept it if I know I am being rippedoff,even by only 50 cents!! Yet, it is very exhausting! All of this added to Hanoi craziness makes me wonder how much longer I can deal with the country, but before running away I have to see at least some other places!

So from the Capital we embark on another night train journey towards Hue, a city famous for two main reasons: the Royal history & its monuments and a tragic battle during the Vietnam war (to give you an idea, Hue is only a few kms away from ‘Hamburger Hill‘, which you have probably heard about in movies…).

Once here, after a journey with very little sleep, I am relieved to notice that much of Hanoi typical noise and confusion are gone… I wouldn’t say this place is quiet, but at least it’s bearable! And on top of this we are staying in a lovely hotel with super kind staff offering us cold towels & fresh fruit juice every time we step into the lobby! 🙂 Oh, definitely an improvement!

Our time here in Hue is spent firstly  visiting the Citadel, aka the King’s court and residence which is still surrounded by walls and includes several pagodas and old buildings despite being heavily bombed during the war…

(The bridge leading to the Citadel)

…. And then going motorbiking all around the area to get in some other sights (royal tombs and pagodas, mostly!)….

I like this rural side of Vietnam much more and despite the heat is nice to be able to travel leisurely across rice fields and small villages….