Central Vietnam - Hue & Bach Ma National Park (and the train that got me here!)

Oh, I finally caught up with the blog in Hoi An and now I am a behind again (my blog - a metaphor for life).

It is New Year's Eve (Tet) and I am in Hanoi but let's go back to the day I left Hoi An.  I had booked a noon-ish train ticket to Hue but the train left from Da Nang.  So, back on the yellow bus.  I could see from some sketchy sources that the bus stopped near the train station so I let the surely attendant know. 

Side note - the yellow bus conductors are brutal.  I got on at the bus station so I was ok but I watched that lady literally drag old ladies into the moving bus by their scrawny little arms.  I kept waiting for the bus to drive away with just an arm in the attendants hands. One old lady just huddled beside the door in the stairwell for a few minutes to recover from boarding the bus.  And, added bonus, someone was sending their bike (loaded with bags and a case of coke attached) on the bus so that was just dumped in the back and everyone had to get over/around it while the bus lurched along. A different old lady just sat on the wheel, pedal rammed into her leg.   And no one says a thing.  They just get on with their lives like this is normal, which I suppose it is.  I need to take a lesson as I am not to keen on my hotel today and am feeling very complainy.

This was after the other boxes were unloaded but no one
bothered to move it over so people could pass

Anyway, she pointed out the train station down a street and then we proceeded to go another four or five blocks.  I had so much luggage.  I am getting good at navigating the streets and traffic but that is when I am light and nimble.  Not so much burdened with a backpack and a duffle.  But I got there, me and bags intact.

Amazingly, I had a lower bunk, facing the right way!!!  And, as promised, it was a lovely trip.   This time there were two other tourists in my cabin.  So, the woman (Kiwi, originally from Ukraine, living in Japan, travelling in Vietnam - so typical traveler I meet here) sat on my bunk with me and we discussed life while I took pictures out of the grimy window. 

I stayed at the Valentine Hotel (for Valentine's day).  Not noteworthy but cheap. 

The next day, it was overcast but amazingly the rain held off.  I walked to the Citadel, the imperial palace.  I killed two (TWO!) camera batteries so brace yourself.  Hue was originally a walled city.  Within that wall is the Citadel, a walled imperial city.  And within the walls of the Citadel are walled palaces of various emperors.  And each wall has a super fancy 'gate'.  I think there was some serious gate upmanship going on with the emperors.  If your gate isn't ridiculous, you might as well not get out of your imperial bed.

Anyway, I had to walk across a bridge (of course).  I think is was about 3km to get there.  I probably have some pictures of the walk, let me check...  yup, here's a few.

Year of the dog, AND the olympics.

Ok, let's make up a new rule.  If I'm not sure if I am where I want to be or if I am underwhelmed by the place I am looking for, I'm not there yet.

I knew I was looking for a gate.  Here is the first gate I found.

Turns out this is a gate to the walled city of Hue

Next gate

Sure, this is nice but it turns out not to be a gate at all
but a barrier to the service entrance to the museum

Next gate

Surely, this impressive gate is THE gate.  Nope. Turns out this is a side gate

Now this is a GATE!

Moat and all.

I got the answer to my question about boob-out by the way.  

No, keep them in, thank you

Ok, here we go: palaces, gates, lakes, crumbly bits, and other.  I won't try to remember what these places are within the Citadel.  Here are a million pictures.

No pictures allowed - HA!

They also had a think for brass urns and whatever this is.

They had giant bonsai (oxymoron but true).  Instead of in a pot,
the trees, rocks and tiny pagodas were on islands.  Very pretty

These tiles were everywhere.  They amused me.

gate detail

Some of the nine urns

The Citadel is also full of birds.  Here are some of them

Unidentified 

They have live performances at the Royal Theatre so I rushed over to watch the 3 o;clock show.  But it turns out it is 200K VND so no.  But was I was walking away, I heard music from the back of the building, up some stairs. So I went  up and in, and found a view of the dancers from behind the stage.  They had draped some sheer curtain but I could see through (and could lift the corner to get a photo).  I didn't stay for the whole show.  I like this photo though.  I bet it is better than from the paid seats.

I was in the Citadel all day and I really didn't want to walk back so I let a bicycle rickshaw driver talk me into taking me back to my hotel (with a stop at an ATM)

Oh, this is already so long but I will plug away.  Next day, I had booked a day trip to Bach Ma National Park.  It is a birding hotspot in Vietnam and I had tried to hire a guide but Tet - so no one was available.  This was the next best thing I figured.

Remember when I said if I was going to die on this trip it was biking in Hoi An.  I was wrong, it was on this hike.  I have complained about hikes before, the Andean death march, the ascent of Cotopaxi, the waterfall in Tanzania but this... This puts them all to shame.  This hike involved ropes and water crossings and LEECHES!  Yes, you read that right.

A bit of history.  Bach Ma mountain was 'discovered' by the French who figured out it was temperate even in the heat of summer.  So, very quickly they kicked in a road and built houses and shops and a pool etc.  This was in the 30s.  Then the Vietnamese took it over for a while, then the French took it back and then the Americans bombed the hell out of it, then they took it and built a landing zone, then they lost it and left the country and then it was made a national park.  There are still some abandoned French Villas scattered about.  The last tiger was caught (injured from a poachers trap) in 2003. (note - I didn't see even one bird)

I think that pretty much says it all.  Since I survived, let's enjoy the beautiful scenery:  

A Ho Chi Minh Trail tunnel.  I was about the experience
what it was like to be a Viet Cong on the trail

The summit

We had started out with a grey day but then we drove above the clouds and had sun all day

The summit wasn't too bad.  But after that we headed to lakes number 3 & 4.  Not really lakes, more like pools at the base of waterfalls in the river.  I never made it to lake # 3.   I stayed at #4 while the rest of the young and fit went ahead.  Also, I discovered the 'vibrant' setting on my camera while I was waiting so some of these are going to be vibrant.

lake #4 (that is actually the 'trail' on the left)

unnavigatable trails never look as bad in photos.  It was bad, believe me.

This was a water crossing, not even close to the worst.

Rhododendron Falls (4000 feet up)

This was a shoes off crossing (still not the worst).  I found my first leech
when I took my shoes off so it must have climbed my shoe while I was walking

Sorry, I wasn't thinking straight so I didn't get a picture of the leech
but here is the bloody after effect.

After the Falls the trail got better.  Still a million stone stairs and a long way to go but no more water or ropes.

I was never so happy to see the first signs of the end

Easy walking for the last 1/2 km.

The mountain up to the park is covered with graves for some reason.  I convinced our driver to stop at one particularly pretty site on a lake.

After the hike, I had to get to the airport and fly to Hanoi.  Miraculously, I didn't have to pay for my huge bag.  Then a very expensive cab ride to my hotel where I discovered that due to Tet, no free breakfast for my entire stay.  Now this hotel is definitely not worth what I am paying.  I was so tired though , I just crashed when I arrived at midnight. 

By they way, my laundry in Hue never dried so it is hanging in my room here now.  It was wet shirt, pants and undies this morning.  I would have had wet socks too but I wore my sandals while my shoes dry out from the numerous dunkings on the hike.  (did I mention the second leech?)

Must prepare myself for the midnight festivities to make the start of Tet.  They better be good because Tet is starting to annoy me.