Today we checked out of the Fivitel Hotel in Da Nang
We had a car take us to Hue which was approximately 3 1/2 hours with all of the stops along the way. We took the long route which included the Hai Van Pass which is the longest pass in SE Asia. The Hai Van pass was also a fortification during the war. There are cement bunkers riddled with bullet holes, with the odd embedded bullet slug still remaining. The vegetation on the way through the pass is absolutely lush. We were quite fortunate to have a sunny day for the trip with only a few clouds. We have lots of great pictures from the lookout at the top of the pass.
We also stopped at Lang Co beach and Lap An lagoon fishing village. We took a few pictures there, it was very scenic. The weather was not as humid as yesterday but definitely warm.
When we arrived at the Serene Shining Hotel we were greeted with fresh fruit and a welcome drink. The fruit was passion fruit, Gary’s new favourite! Also mango, dragon fruit which went well with the water melon juice.
Tomorrow we have a day long tour of the DMZ which includes Frame of Church, Highway of Horror, Military Cemetery, Hien Luong Bridge, Ben Hai River, Vinh Moc Tunnels, The Rock Pile, Ho Chi Minh Trail and Khe Sanh Combat Base. We are leaving at 7:30 am and according to the schedule return at 6:30 pm. It will be a long day and there will not likely be a blog update on that for a couple of days. As well, the day after we have a full day of touring booked and plan to see the Hue Imperial City Citadel, then Mu Pagoda, Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh Tombs. By then we should be toured out!
We are still a bit stiff and sore from our hike up Marble Mountain yesterday. We both have sore knees and legs. We definitely are getting our exercise. Todays trekking around Hai Van Pass was all over rocks and broken stone steps. We had lots of company with more than 10 tour busses stopped on the side of the road.
We got settled into our hotel. It’s a pleasant surprise – the front entrance is down a small alley or side street and the lobby isn’t that big but the rooms are great, lots of room and clean. We have a nice seating area and bedroom with king sized bed and a good sized bathroom, plus breakfast is included for $31 per night. Will be interesting what is served for breakfast.
We walked around the “tourist area” by the hotel. Lots of restaurants and pubs. We had supper at the sister hotel Serene Palace. It was really good and there must be lots of competition as they quizzed the daylight out of us and chatted us up so knew we were staying a few nights. As we paid our bill they gave us a voucher for 10% off and said they hoped we be back tomorrow!
The waitress did tell us that weekends (Fri, Sat. & Sun nights) they close off some of the streets and they are night walking streets meaning no cars or motorbikes permitted. It was a nice relaxing way to end the evening wandering down the streets and not worried about getting run over by one of the million scooters zipping around. We haven’t seen an accident yet but lots of indications they are common judging by the scraped up cars or scooters. It’s just after 8 pm and we’ll try and get this loaded and then off to bed!
