Epic Vietnam Journey (Day 8-Hoi An to Hue)

I wake up 3am, then 3:15am, then 3:30am, then 3:45am, etc until it is 8am.  There is this damned rooster 10 feet from my hotel room that keeps going off.  It was the most annoying thing.  It wasn’t necessarily the fact that I jumped each time that rooster went off.  The most difficult thing was the anticipation that I felt just waiting for the rooster to crow.  Sometimes, it would be 5 seconds between crows.  Sometimes it would be 15 minutes between crows.  The asynchronicity of the entire ordeal drove me crazy.  And really, is there anything as useless in the world than a rooster.  What do they really do other than annoy the hell out of you?

My friends and I go on a boating/fishing tour of the bay.  The tour was nice, but as usual, I caught no fish (not even a nibble).  The Bolan curse strikes again. 

At 2pm, I take off on my motorcycle for a relatively short 120km ride to Hue.  The view on the first part of this leg was stunning, as I went through mountain passes with views of the ocean.  Awesome scenery.  

The last leg of this trip was treacherous.  I came out of the mountains.  The sun was shining, and then out of nowhere, a summer squall hit me like a ton of bricks.  I didn’t even have time to dawn my rain coat.  I was soaking wet in a manner of a minute.  This was the hardest rain that I have encountered so far.  I was barely moving, and the rain hitting my face with the wind gusts felt like I was being sand blasted by big chunks of wet sand.  I had to put my sunglasses on (which made it harder to see, but protected my eyes) and I drove with my hand shielding my face.  I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of my face, but I soldiered on.  A half hour later I finally came out the other side of the storm, and the pounding rain gives way to the warmth of the sun as the moisture evaporates from my clothes.  No pain, no gain.  My wallet and passport, however, have seen better days. 

I arrive in Hue and I like the vibe.  It is a full-on city with everything, except it is not nearly as large as Hanoi or Saigon.  I would say that if I lived in any city in Vietnam, I would pick Hue.  It has four universities.  It has parks. It has nice restaurants.  It has nice bars. It seems much cleaner.  It has a nice beach a few kilometers away.   The people seem happier here.  It’s a bit touristy though, as you are constantly bombarded by street vendors.  I decide right then that I would stay a couple days here.  I‘m driving my motorcycle around, and this guy accosts me, and wants to know where I am going.  He is apparently a hotel owner, and he escorts me to the city center where his family owns a hotel.  That night, I go to a Western-style eatery and order pizza.  On the way home, a few bicycle taxi guys offer to take me to a prostitute for 10 dollars.  Cheap, but it doesn’t matter to me.  I decline.  I guess prostitution is alive and well in this town.

#vagabonding #vagabondism #travel #instatravel #travelgram #tourist #tourism #vacation #traveling #vietnamroadtrip #vietnammotorcycle #vietnam #hue