Welvome to Huế

I arrived in Hue by the overnight train from Hanoi around 10 am this morning. I and to the other toruists were immediately bombarded by taxi drivers, so much so that we had difficulty getting out of the station gate. I didn't walk 50 feet and had at least 10 offers. It was a 25-minute walk to the hostel, which I much preferred over them and after lying down for 14 hours.

This hotel is very clean and the air conditioning works very well. The mattresses are foam pads just like we had at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in 2002, which is going to be better than anything else I have slept on in over a month. Luckily, I got a bottom bunk, and it's stuck in the corner. Just how I like it. My little cave. With my poncho pulled closed and my earphones in, I'll sleep very well and soooooo much better than last night.

The sleeper train was awful. No seats, just your bunk. The bathroom was disgusting. Our sliding cabin door fell off the track, and the girl below me couldn't get it open until the train guy came to let her out. It never went back on the bottom track; it just hung from the top, so it banged against the wall all night. A Vietnamese lady kept yelling in the hallway, and a kid was screaming for a long time. [I heard all of this even with my earphones in full volume.] The very old train constantly ricketed and racketed, tossing you left, right, forward, backward, up, and down. I felt like I was laying down in a gyroscope. And to top it off, the person on the other side of the wall from me banged it all night, which I could feel. Never again.

I've had a cold shower, but I haven't eaten since yesterday's post, so I'm off to find a bite and see about renting a motorbike tomorrow. Traffic is crazy here, too, but the places to see are well out of walking distance. Wish me luck.

Out for now. ✌️Read more