The train trip from Hanoi went from 11 PM to 11 AM so we got to see the countryside in the morning. The thing you really notice in Vietnam is that you are never out of sight of human settlement. Even between towns there are rice fields, farm houses etc and the towns or villages come by pretty frequently. Totally different from Australia.
We stayed at the Thanh Noi in Hué for two nights. It was fine - had lovely grounds and the service and food in the restaurant/bar was good. The pool was nice, decent size, clean and with enough deckchairs to lounge around on. Only thing was the pool was in full sun most of the day and was therefore like stepping into a warm bath!
The hotel was well located, right across the street was the walled 'Imperial Enclosure'. We liked the area – it was different from the other cities we’d been to as there were very few foreigners around. When we’d go walking around the block exploring or walk into a shop people would sometimes seem a bit surprised to see us there. Quite different from the bigger cities where there were foreigners everywhere in the parts we stayed in.
Hué seemed well maintained and quite clean – for example the sidewalks were nicely paved and in good condition, as opposed to Saigon or Hanoi where the pavements are often in pretty poor shape. The only thing was the woman at the front desk was quite pushy about the tours we had asked about - we were interested in a boat trip on the river to the imperial tombs etc and it was always 'you tell me soon', 'you tell me in 30 minutes' etc - kind of hurrying us up to make our minds up and book the tour.
We didn't much like the boat tour - we were the only guests on a small boat operated by a family. From the moment we got on they kept on trying to sell us one lot of crap after another. It ruined the experience for us. As well, while the boat trip I think was only $5, they make a lunch for the passengers which they cook themselves on the boat. The woman on the boat wanted a ridiculous amount of money for the lunch by Vietnamese standards - I think she started at $8 or $10 per person. In the end I negotiated her down to 'only' $20 or $22 for my wife and I and the two kids. Still over the odds by VN standards, but was nice enough.
We cut the trip short and made them take us home - at some of the stops the pagoda or whatever was too far to walk so again you were hassled by motorbike taxis wanting to charge over the odds. Don't want to sound like a whinger begrudging paying the locals - we'd been in VN three weeks at this stage and had a good idea what was the going rate for things - were quite happy to pay and leave a decent tip in many cases.
Anyway, it wasn't a good day and I would probably recommend doing the river boat trip with a different outfit than the one we booked through the Thanh Noi! Or get a taxi to take you round to the main highlights – we found this a good option several times as it is more flexible and you can stop to take photos or get them to take you to other places you might want to have a look at along the way.
During the boat trip we visited the Thien Mu Pagoda and the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang, both of which we found interesting stops.
Hué is just south of the former border between Nth and Sth Vietnam. During the infamous 'Tet Offensive' in 1968 the communists seized Hué and held it for over three weeks. In that time they apparently went house to house using pre-prepared lists and executed over 2,000 'unreliable elements' such as intellectuals, merchants, religious leaders etc. They don't mention that alongside the (very real) American war crimes at the museums here - I guess history is written by the victors as they say!
In the end the city was taken back by the Americans and their allies with great force and massive casualties to the Communist side. You can still see the damage done by artillery, airstrikes etc to the old walled city. There are abandoned American tanks and other equipment in small museums. Around the airport can be seen the remains of American fortifications, guard towers, aircraft hangars and so on. This is the same at other airports throughout the former South Vietnam, including HCMC, as the airports were generally used as airbases by the US Air Force during the war.
After a few nights at Hué we hired a cab driver to drive us to Lang Co Beach. He was the same guy who picked us up at the train station and drove us to our hotel a few days earlier. He spoke reasonable English and had given us his card, so when we decided to do the next leg by road we gave him a call. I think we agreed on a price of 400,000 Dong (about $25) but can’t remember for sure.
Lang Co Beach is about 70 km south and is starting to get developed with western-style beach resorts. It is a very beautiful area, with mountains behind the beach.
On the way we met a girl at Suoi Voi Springs (‘Elephant Springs’ - a local swimming hole in the mountains just off Highway 1A) who ran a guesthouse, so we decided to stay with her family for $10 per room for the night. It was very nice - our family and theirs, plus a big Danish family of 9 people. The place was called the Chi Na Guesthouse, and is in Lonely Planet. Very basic accommodation, right on the main national highway, Route 1A. It’s right across the road from the Lang Co Beach Resort, and we were able to walk over to the beach and use their deckchairs, beach umbrellas etc without any hassle.
We stayed up drinking beer and God knows what local spirit with them - it was one of the Danish girl's 17th birthday and they had a party where Narrelle and I even had to sing 'Waltzing Matilda' at Karaoke! My wife is not a great singer and I am absolutely terrible - must have been quite a treat for the audience! The older kids were attending university at Hué - quite an academic town, even Ho Chi Minh studied there for a while – but had never ventured more than 100km from their home. It was a really fun night, the family were very nice and the older girls amused the smaller kids from the Danish family by taking them for rides around the block on their motorbikes.
The old father spoke very little English but insisted we join him in toasts - while in Vietnam I have been given and accepted 'snake wine' plus 'scorpion wine' (i.e. a dead animal of the kind described is in the bottle) as well as now in the more coastal areas 'Sea Horse Wine'. 'Wine' is a deceptive term - these are distilled spirits of some kind and quite strong. Well it hasn't sent me blind yet and doesn't seem to do any harm to the hardy old village folk who drink this kind of thing in copious amounts!
Click here to see our photos from Hué and Lang Co Beach.
Next stop Hoi An…