Heading to Hue

Today we took a private car from Hoi An to Hue with stops along the way at My Son Sanctuary, China Beach aka American Beach outside of Danang, Marble Mountain, Hai Van Pass and Lang Co Beach.  It's only a 145 km drive from Hoi An to Hue but we added another 100 or so kilometres for the planned detour to My Son.  What a full day!  We were picked up in Hoi An by a private car hired through the hotel in Hue.  Our driver, Tiger, arrived right on time at 8:30 am and with the help of hotel staff crammed our luggage in the trunk and front seat of his Toyota.  Lol, I really need to learn to pack lighter; I'm sure the little bellhop has a hernia!!  

Soon enough we were off and it became obvious that the muffler was shot so the ride was slow, long, noisy, a bit cramped but oh so worth the small irritations.  Driving through the country side to My Son we passed through town after town brimming with life.  The symphony of motorcycle and car horns is pervasive even here.  Lol, traffic will seem so mundane when I get home.  We also spotted some livestock along the way.  Cattle and water buffalo were grazing along the side of the road in fields and in village squares.   We saw a duck farm in a river; the "farm" consisted of very high netting that encompassed a spit of land and a bit of river.  According to Tiger, Vietnamese ducks can't fly.  Lol.  

After an hour or so we arrived at My Son Sanctuary, a UNESCO world heritage site.   During the 4th to 13th centuries there was a unique culture on the coast of contemporary Vietnam, owing its spiritual origins to the Hinduism of India, the Champa or Cham culture.  

My Son is the site of Vietnam’s most extensive Cham remains.  My Son was once the most important intellectual and religious centre of the kingdom of Champa and may also have served as a burial place for Cham monarchs.  It was rediscovered in the late 19th century by the French, who restored parts of the complex, but American bombing later devastated the temples.  We saw large craters where several bombs had dropped and dents made by gunfire.

The French took the head of the sculpture home to study

Another head sent to France?

A fallen column

After looking at lots of rocks, as Ken would say, we headed back to the car for the next leg of the adventure.  Contrary to what we had believed there are traffic laws in Vietnam.  The speed limit in towns is 50 km/hr and on highways you can go as fast as 80 km/hr if you dare.  Tiger rarely did as the roads were still jammed with folks on holiday and despite the honking of horns people don't seem to be in a hurry most of the time.  Eventually, we arrived at China Beach to take a few pics. The red flags were up to advise folks not to swim because of riptides so only a few people were braving the surf and a lone fisherman was out in his bowl shaped boat. We could see the 67 meter high Lady Buddha set on the side of Monkey Mountain in the distance.  A few more shots and then back in the car for the drive to Marble Mountain. 

Like any good tour in Vietnam, there was the mandatory shopping stop to look at marble creations big and small that could be shipped home for a good price.  Tiger dropped us off and went to have a snack with his cronies so we were at the mercy of our fairly insistent saleswoman.  Neither of us had much use for garden gnomes,  Buddhas or other lawn ornaments though some of them were quite beautiful so she was disappointed and aggravated when we left empty handed looking for Tiger.  Up to Marble Mountain to have a look at the temple near the top.  Options were hundreds of steps up through the mountain or a luxurious return trip on a glass elevator which is a recent addition to the site. You know we decided to spend the 30,000 VND (less than $2) to support the local economy.  Lol.  

Big Buddha and Skinny Buddha

Once up top, there were great views of Danang and China Beach and beautiful, temples, pagodas and statues.  A special place indeed.  We didn't linger as we were on a schedule.  Next stop Hai Van pass; part of Highway 1 on the border between Thua Thien-Hue Province and Danang City.  

On the north – south nation highway, Hai Van Pass is an impressive landscape.  This is the highest pass in Vietnam (500m above sea level).  Hai Van means "Sea Clouds", since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea.  On the drive up to the top, we experienced two feelings; amazement and fear.  Amazement at passing through the clouds and fear when seeing the dangerous bends of the road.  God, I was glad I wasn't on a bus or a motorbike.  We came across wandering cows and goats straddling the road several times on the trip to the top.  After climbing through hair-pin curves for close to an hour, we reached the crest of the Hai Van Pass.  From here, there are views to both the North and the South. The pass forms an obvious boundary between North and South Vietnam as evidenced by the fortifications built by the French and then later used by the South Vietnamese and the Americans. 

View from the top

Gate between North and South

Tiger had a favourite spot for lunch here and it was nearing 2:30 so we were starting to get hungry as well.  No wonder, the proprietor was a very friendly articulate man and the food (at least mine) was tasty.  Fortified with a light lunch and a quick jaunt across the road to look at the fortifications for Ken, we started down the other side and came to a look off where we could see Lang Co Beach.  Wow, what a fabulously pretty spot attached to a town of the same time that is largely Catholic though the rest of the country is predominately Buddhist.  Might be a great place to retire?   

A slice of Heaven - Lang Co

Sightseeing done, it was back in the car for another couple of hours of driving and we finally arrived in Hue and our hotel.  The hotel had called a couple of times to see when we were going to arrive and when we did, it was obvious why.  The hotel is down a small alley not suitable for cars so we had a gaggle of hotel staff waiting to greet us, grab our bags and direct us to the hotel.  Cold towels, tea and fresh fruit awaited us in the lobby as they loaded the luggage from the overstuffed car into the smallest elevator I've ever seen.  Lol, and there were two hotel staff in the lift with all our stuff.  This hotel is not swanky but it is a fairly typical basic Vietnamese hotel.  Rooms are small but adequate and clean and the room is only $32 USD/night including a great breakfast so a bargain.  

After getting cleaned up we headed out to explore and found the DMZ bar which had buy 2 get 1 free on the local Huda beer so we were hooked.  Ken had a pizza and I the best spring rolls so far and a veggie stir fry with steamed rice.  Good food, cold beer and all for a very fair price.  We did a bit of exploring but eight hours in the car had taken it's toll so back to the hotel for an earlyish night. 

The Forbidden Palace is on the schedule for tomorrow.