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Hooray for Hue!!

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Yes that title does rhyme when pronounced correctly.
We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 3 hour bus ride. The ride wasn't too bad, we got to see alot of the countryside which is covered with rice fields, pagodas and the occasional catholic curch. The people here are always working from the crack of dawn (around 5am) and all day till around 10pm, we often stumble into a restaurant or shop where people are having a deserving nap and have to wake up to serve us.
Hue is built on an a river with the city on both sides of the bank, the beach is around 14km away. This afternoon we are going to visit a citadel which was built for the emporer and have a wander around, i would like to go to the beach at some point and bathe my wounds it is looking awful!
Anyway back to the bus ride; We were quite annoyed at the service here as the bus keeps dropping us off at hotels that pay the bus company commissions. There is always a long line of scouts waiting where the bus stops to get us to go to their hotel, so, out of principal we braved the heat (and my full bladder) and set off to find our own hotel. Unfortunatly for us we picked a shit one that leaked and is mouldy, but at least we feel proud that we have stood up for the non-commission paying hotels and us un-suspecting travelers that were told that we would be dropped off at the bus depot!
We are exactly half way through our journey and we (well def me) are having a brilliant time!!
bye for now
Claire
-Hue

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Anonymous said…
Hi,

Hmm, I am surprised that you are all aware of the fact that buses dropping their passengers off at hotels that agree to pay their company a cut. It's annoying. I totally agree.

Apparently, the central committee in Hanoi tried to stop it sometime ago after a party official was killed when he objected to this sort of unfriendly behaviour imposed on him.

It would apear as if they are back at it again. I'd say that lower your expectation regarding consumer choices a bit further for the time being is a pragmatic medicine as far as this go. It can only aggravate your annoyance and lessen your enjoyment of the trip. Take care and try to enjoy life. My two cents.

Cheers
P
6:09 PM
Anonymous said…
Keep up the good posts guys. Hope your burn heals Claire - I guess there's a learning experience there somewhere!! Take it easy.
1:09 PM
Ville said…
healing going well dad, thanks, regarding the hotel comissions, i guess everyone is out to make some money, and especially in a third world country like vietnam you can't really blame them for trying. I think the annoyance comes mainly from the long haul bus ride with no sleep and then getting off with our hotels in mind and being bombarded by them. But i agree that a more relaxed attitude is necesary to make the trip all the more fun, and that is something we have definatly developed along the way.
11:30 PM
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