Vietnam cont’d
Day 3 in Hue & it’s not quite as bad once you get used to being bothered all the time but still up there with China on the not so nice list but with the amount of tourists here guess it’s only natural but upon thinking about it not really that much worse than Havana.
Did a short local tour by Rickshaw or whatever name they use here, then a full day city tour today visiting some tombs of past kings & learned a lot from a very good guide. visited the Citadel & Forbidden City which is in the process of being restored with both government & UNESCO funds. Apparently Hue took quite a beating during the Tut offensive by the US artillery & a lot of damage was done to historical sites.
Had an all you can eat lunch buffet which was included in the $10 price of the tour so it wasn’t really a bank breaker considering that we went upriver or was it down a bit to a Pagoda & returned to town on a Dragon boat (catamaran with dragons heads on each hull), they are even crazier about dragons than the Chinese & their unicorns are hornless.
Must say the one good thing about Vietnam is the food (with the exception of the hotel’s breakfast). First night went to a nice restaurant nearby where a meal including soup, salad, desert & a quart of Tiger beer came to around $7 & lunch at the local cafeteria including ice tea was only $1.70 & both were very good as was today’s lunch/dinner. Hungry just thinking about it so cut this update & go to dinner.
So I guess one could say that so far, while not great, Vietnam is an interesting & tolerable experience. Which will cut short as have my train ticket for HCMC (Saigon) for the morning & hotel booked there for 2 nights then off to Cambodia.
Tags: Travel
busman7
Well at least the food being edible is a bonus! lol
have you had any of the drinks with dead snakes pickled in it?? i’ve been looking at my cousin’s photos and he’s been drinking this stuff… he’s like 2 steps behind you Dave lol…
my other cousin who spent 3 weeks last year in Vietnam says it smells horrible!
The historical sites must be awesome…it’s good to hear they are being restored…
I stick to beer no dead snakes in it, Tiger beer from Thailand in Hue.
Haven’ noticed any different smells from anywhere else.
Might be jumping the gun as just arrived in Saigon at 04:30 but seems a whole different country from Hue (350,000) & not bad at all for a city of 5-7 million (depending on who you ask) + seems safe! Will update my blog when I have seen more.
Very interesting updates Dave! MmMm….I love Vietnamese cuisine, in fact, I probably average 1 Pho per week, its great, especially during the winter, and China Town in Ottawa is in a good location, so its just a skip and a hop from my work in Gatineau, I can get a big Pho which will warm me up and fill me up for $7!
Btw, you know that Tiger is from Singapore right? Tiger was Singapore’s first beer, and the Headquarters is still in Singapore. I am guessing that you are drinking Tiger which was brewed in Thailand. LCBO carries Tiger 🙂 As for authentic Thai beers, those would be Singha and Chang.
Yeah food is great, have to watch Thai as the spices have a habit on multiplying & sneak up on you
Didn’t realise that about the beer but prefer it to Singah, too bitter or Chang too bland, Tiger is up there with Myanmar, the best of the lot & Beerlao, not bad either.
However still prefer Cristal LOL or in Canada Coors Light—-Back in my younger days Molson Export in quarts was the only way to go oh well at least all the above come in quarts