This has to be short, sweet, concise, and without much prep work. A stream of consciousness if you will. Currently in Hue City in the Cherish Hotel. A pretty cool town.
We left Hanoi at 0630, still trying to catch up on sleep. We got to the Hanoi airport , checked in, made it through security and Rachel started face timing me. They were having some difficulty getting out of Pensacola. In a nutshell, Rachel and Maddie were trying to get back to MCO through BNA, and got diverted to Atlanta. Coincidentally, since Rebecca didn’t get on that flight, she non revved on Delta to, you guessed it, Atlanta. Then, they all made it home, I found out later once I regained wifi in Hue.
It was an old school boarding in Hanoi on Vietnam Airlines. A bus to the tarmac, and up air stairs to the Airbus 321. It was really foggy, and my travelling companions were asking about the visibility, and sure enough we were delayed because of it.
A short 55 minute flight Hanoi to Hue, and I jammed out to Phish the whole way.
In Hue, we got a cab to the hotel, and the weather couldn’t have been a bigger contrast than Hanoi. It was sunny and 20 degrees warmer, and really on the “warmer” side. We had lunch around the corner, on a trip advisor restaurant that Kurt pulled up. It was literally about 2 bucks for the meal. It is ridiculously cheap here.
We walked along the waterfront to the imperial Citadel, and the seat of the Nguyen dynasty, the last Vietnamese dynasty that was from about 1803-1945 (ish). A lot of resemblance to the Forbidden City in Beijing, just way newer in all respects.
It was blazing hot out, and we could only handle that touring for a couple of hours, so we went back to the Cherish and I got a work out, and shower in just in time to take a dragon boat ride on the Perfume River.
We timed it so we would be able to watch the sunset from the boat, and it was very impressive. As we proceeded West towards the Central Highlands of Vietnam, the sun, a blazing orange orb set over the mountains as we floated down the sun line reflecting on the water. Very spectacular to see the colors layered in strata clouds capping the mountains on the horizon.
The color show continued for a while as we disembarked at “the Pagoda” and were transfixed over the rivers spectacle and twilight summoned the bats to flit around us.
We settled on a high end restaurant as recommended by the hotel. A 5 star if there ever was one with a 6 or 7 course meal of the Hue variety for about 11 bucks.
This was a whirlwind day, since were only here for one, and onward tomorrow.
Hue is much different than Hanoi, with a more laid back vibe, almost like a beach town feel. Not so city like either, and a lot cleaner. Both places have been fantastic to experience.
Good night to all.
