Hue and Hoi An

Greetings from the road,

 

So this sleeper bus, let me put it this way....picture an amusement ride the your sure you will die on but it is over in a minute...now picture it lasting 10 hours!!  I am going to rename it the smelly feet sleeper bus because that is exactly what it is haha.  It get's better...supposed to arrive in Hue at 8am... we roll in at 430am.  Everyone gets off the bus and wanders in different directions into the dark.  I somehow found that Citadel (fortress) and walked around it until it opened at 7am.  It was cold, and I would have killed for anything remotely near a Tim Hortons...you can not get a western coffee in this part of the world and certainly not at 5am.  It was quite a freaky experience but I sorted it out, toured the fort, took a boat ride up the Perfume River and I believe adopted the entire family who it turns out actually live on the boat with their two kids.  I bought everything they tried to sell me to help them out...coming home with a silk robe that should be good for Halloween with the dragons all over it :).  Back on the bus later that day for Hoi An.  Beautiful little quaint cobble stoned town full of shops and eateries.  As you all  know I hate knick knacks...any ways....the land of knick knacks and agressive sellers of all ages,  Like I said watching the people and how they live is fascinating...I could go on for hours about how they interact with each other and thier children.  It is quite challenging figuring your way around with the language barriers etc and to do so is quite exhilarating.  Today was a freaky day but a small triumph in it's own way.  I will share with you one such example...all I wanted was some breakfast and a hot!!! coffee this morning,.  I hire a rickshaw driver as I needed to get back to bus office which was not where we were dropped off to make sure I had a reservation on the very bus I just go off of for later the same day....I know...everything is a challenge haha...meanwhile the elderly rickshaw driver is hustling me toward his favorite breakfast place and negotiating how we will spend the day together...I finally bought him off to leave me alone and fled into what look liked the first enclosed (warm) coffee shop I had seen all morning.  In I go. It was like walking into a night club in Vancouver at 2am on a Saturday night.  I was the only white guy.  There was a DJ spinning loud, very loud dance music...everyone was smoking and staring at me.  I was too tired to care.  I sat down an ordered (due to language barrier) two breakfasts and a coffee.  It was a strange breakfast in many ways but I regained my energy to move on but without my hearing...for a while....a three hour bus ride and into another town...and yes it continues,,,and you know what, I am loving it! :):)