Reunification Express to Hue

Taxi rides are always such an ordeal! The manager of Bich Duyen, Chunh, flagged a taxi and helped schlep our stuff out to the street. He arranged a 40,000 dong fare to the train station, but as soon as he was out of sight the driver said "meter!" and to our protests just said "same, same." Off we went and even though I do have to admit I think the meter was fair (unlike the meter when we rode to the bus station and watching the numbers whirl past like a slot machine) but we had supposedly agreed to 40,000. When we got to the station I read 51,500 but somehow when we got out he was saying 55,000. That's only a difference of less than a dollar but my mother gets very offended by constantly being taken by these taxi drivers.

But we paid the fare and went on, made it into our four person compartment--only to have two women, two men, and a very portly 5 year old boy come in with tons of luggage. I feared that the entire compartment would be crammed with this group, but luckily the entourage was just on hand to assist one woman and her son in what I can only suppose was a move to Hanoi due to the large amount of luggage she crammed into the compartment.

The ride was basically pleasant, though the little boy did have some obnoxious noisy toys that he played until after midnight--when he wasn't caterwauling some song. It was hile amusing to watch his mother feed him--she tore the meat off a chicken leg and put it one small piece at a time into his gaping mouth. After his meal she had him stand up in the bunk and urinate into an empty plastic water bottle, even though the bathroom was less than ten feet away.

I spent the evening reading material for my hopefully soon to be completed dissertation. It was a very strange juxtaposition to be mentally immersed in turn of the 16th century English politics and culture while riding the Reunifcation Express up the coast of Vietnam.

Still the night passed well. For an hour or so a railroad worker came in and slept on the bunk above the woman and her son and he snored very loudly. But he left and was replaced by an older woman who got on in Nha Trang who fell imediately and quietly asleep.
In the morning we were treated to very lovely scenery after we passed Danang. The train had to have an extra engine attached to it before we started into this seaside pass.
We shared an open window in the hallway with some other tourists who were taking photos and marveling at the beauty. The locals seemed accustomed to it and did not pay attention.

Hue

We made it to Hue a little after 8 in the morning, and thankfully the hotel had a taxi to meet us. Hue is the old capital of Vietnam, back when the country had an emperor. The Nguyen dynasty had their residence here for several hundred years, until the last one abdicated in 1945 and spent out the rest of his life in Paris. I believe his eldest son just died a couple of weeks ago. Strange to think that if Vietnam still had an emperor they would be having a big state funeral now.

It is great to have reservations and a ride to meet you. After a rest we walked down to the Perfume River and ate at this restaurant built out into the water.
The restaurant looked out onto a bridge that was solely used by bicycles, motorbikes, and pedestrians.
I decided to order seafood since we are at a coastal city. I was brave and ordered sauteed squid with vegetables. It was very tasty but a little rubbery in my opinion. But I'm not a big squid eater.
While we were eating a local man in a small boat appeared to be gathering fire wood that had washed up under the edge of the restaurant.
As we ate we watched a somewhat hazy sunset. I think Hue is cloudy most of the time. It reminds me of Lima, Peru. The combination of the mountains and the wind from the ocean creates a hazy sky the locals call "donkey belly".
We made our way across the bridge, dodging locals trying to sell us paintings or rides on Dragon boats or a tour on a cyclo.
We found the local market. It was very crowded.
At this clothing booth I bought two traditional outfits for Henry. I'm pretty sure they are too big for him now, but I got the smallest they had. One is the traditional ao dai, the other is pajamas. I also bought two silk shirts for myself--I didn't really want them but they are nice, my mother got a silk shirt for Harold and I also got a cheap t shirt. The original price was $170 but my mother bargained them down to $130.
The woman below recognized my mother from back in July when she was here and bought some clothes from her. She would have thought the woman was just trying to make a sales pitch but she recalled too many details so even though my mother didn't remember her she did say that she must be telling the truth.

The woman doesn't really have a store of her own, she just scouts out tourists and drags them from one seller to another. She is good at figuring out what you want. My mother had complained about a jade bracelet that I brought her from Thailand that is too small, and I mentioned to the woman about larger bracelets. She dragged us to a shop in the next aisle where they greased up my mother's hand with lotion and crammed a few bracelets--my mother swears that her hand is going to be black and blue tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are booked for an all day tour of Hue--in the morning we go to the Forbidden Purple City, which is a smaller version of Beijing's Forbidden City. In the afternoon we take a boat ride on the Perfume River to visit some of the former emperors' tombs.