A frustrating bus ride to Hue, (pronounced Hway) which should have taken 2 hours took something like 4! The driver stopped for a 30 minute food-stop - twice in 2 hours! Nuts, but this was not the bad experience! Our stop in Hue itself was a quick one and we rented a couple of bicycles and explored the walled citadel, the Emperor's Palace (or what was left of it) and the surrounding streets. Then another 12 hr bus to Hanoi overnight.
We were looking forward to Hanoi - the capital in the north, but had a really horrible start. The bus was supposed to drop us right in the city - the Old Quarter, but all the foreignors got dropped off 30 minutes out of the city, and were told that free taxis would be provided to get into town. We suspected a scam and checked multiple times with the bus rep who accompanied us in the taxi; he reassured us that it was free to get to the Old Quarter - even to our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel of the other couple who were in our taxi, the bus rep demanded payment: apparently ''taxi is only free if you go to his bus company's hotel''. Our suspicions were true! We were taken aback though - the guy started shouting and swearing. We got out of the taxi and quickly retrieved our bags. As I bent to pick up my pack, he pushed me over and I fell to my knees. All the time he was shouting and swearing and wanting to fight Martin. We hurried away, finding a different hotel to stay in than the one we had mentioned to the guy. It took us a while to recover from the shock.
It's a shame as we were really enjoying Vietnam, but what a contrast to the people in the south! At Mui Ne we got treated like Royalty and nothing was too much trouble. The friendliness of the people noticeably declined as we've moved north, ending up with this - the worst incident of our travels! So, to calm our nerves again, we joined our friends that night at Bia Hoi Junction (in pic). * Mush
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