First the 12 hour sleeper bus to Hue: What is a sleeper bus, you might ask. In place of conventional seats, there are interlocking reclined torture pads: your feet go into a small wedge shaped compartment that forms the back of the person in front of you. My feet are not wedge shaped. And my body is much, much longer than the average Asian body. Thus I had to sleep forceably pigeon-toed (and I didn't walk normally for the next two days). Eileen and I were on upper "bunks" but unfortunately not next to each other - I had an aisle spot, but Eileen was sandwiched into a spot with five across, sleeping just inches from strangers.
Upon our arrival in Hue, someone from our hotel met us at the bus station and put us in a taxi to the hotel - he was driving a motorbike himself so was only there to guide us in safely. In fact, the hotel staff were falling all over themselves to be helpful at every opportunity. They enjoyed seeing (and test-riding) our folding bikes and brought them in for safety each night. The staff was always joking with us, and at times it was very funny (just my kind of irreverent humor). I've heard that humor doesn't always translate across cultures well, but I have to say the Vietnamese people are hysterical.
They are also very passionate - speaking with great intensity or animation in their voices. For example, we had a silk sleeping liner made and the seamstress raised her voice quite a bit while explaining to us how the maximum length was dictated by the fabric somehow. It seemed like she was angry, but I don't think she was - she only wanted to do the best job she could for us. She was very helpful and accomodating to make it extra long for my height.
We enjoyed a few days in Hue, riding our bikes to the local temples and other historic sites. Hue was the capital for awhile, and there is a massive imperial city enclosed within a moat and several walls. We learned all about the emperors' strange way of life. They had hundreds of wives and only eunichs could be trusted in the inner compound (no other men permitted).
Back in Thailand, as we were riding an elephant, I thought "King of the Jungle." Then one day at the zoo looking at the massive adult tigers, I thought the same thing. So who is the real king of the jungle, I wondered: the elephant or the tiger? Well in Hue, I found the answer: Apparently one of the emperors there built an arena for the two to fight. Disgusting, right? Would they even fight each other? Turns out there is a consistent winner - which do you think? Turns out, it was the elephant somehow.
Our next stop was Hoi An, by far the most pleasant town we visited in Vietnam. The rest of Vietnam seemed to be composed in a Lego assembly of identical concrete homes (tall and very narrow unpainted cement - very communist looking). But Hoi An was a very old trading town on the river, and it has retained it's character. It has adapted to tourism and has many great restauraunts. At night, they light up the streets with oriental silk lamps and open the streets to just foot traffic - beautiful.
The streets are lined with silk shops and tailors, and we had custom clothes made. As little as $15 for a silk dress for Eileen or a shirt for me. The area is famous for this, and some people bring photos of designer or wedding dresses and get them custom made for a tiny fraction of the cost back home. Again, it was great fun to interact with the Vietnamese people - they always wanted us to be happy.
The food here was so good, we decided to take a cooking class. We spent half a day preparing AND EATING five or six dishes, each at our own workstation. It was wonderful - so many yummy spices and unique flavors. We have all the recipies and can't wait to make it for everyone when we get home.
We took the bikes with us in a taxi to the ancient My Son ruins about 30 miles away. They were Hindu temples very well built from brick without mortar so they were well preserved for the 1000 years since their construction. Sadly, we learned that the few structures we were looking at were all that remained of dozens more that were bombed by the Americans in the war. I don't know the details, but it was another discouraging reminder about the profound losses of war.
During the bike ride back from the ruins, we saw someone carrying a full sized refrigerator with him on the seat of his motorbike - quite a balancing task, not to mention the wide profile he presented driving down the street. But I still think the live cow was the greater feat.
Our last stop was a brief stay in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City. Every bit as crazy as Hanoi, we only stayed for the opportuntity to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. This was an area of extensive tunnels and underground living quarters used by the Viet Cong - the guerilla resistance in south Vietnam. Unbelievably, they extended all the way from Saigon to the Cambodia border (including directly beneath a US military base) - over one hundred miles! We got to go down inside the tunnels a bit (very claustrophobic), and see some of their military strategies like bamboo spiked pits and land mines (made from the gunpowder of US bombs that failed to detonate on impact). And we watched a documentary film there that glorified their struggle against the Americans, "a crazy bunch of devils that bombed civilians and killed women and children." It was very interesting at one point when a (brave) Dutch person in the audience asked our host why he kept refering to their fight with the Americans - weren't the South Vietnamese involved as well? "Yes," the host conceded and from that point on he aways mentioned the Americans and South Vietnamese together.
Vietnam was great. I was worried for a few days when we in Hanoi at the start, but our visit turned out beautifully. So many great things to see and do here. Here is a link to a slideshow of our best photos (press F11 for fullscreen). Next stop: Cambodia.
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