HUÉ BACK TO SAIGON

 28th - 30th Dec 2022

The rather ancient diesel machine which towed our carriages.

I spent four days in and around Hue and had, as previously in Dalat, booked into a small hotel 'on spec' at short notice. It was called quaintly 'Hue Lovely Homestay', and was on the centre-southern side of the river. It was indeed 'lovely' with a very comfortable bedroom plus bathroom (with excellent shower), good air-con and flat-screen TV. The owner, Ms Lien, and her staff could not have been more kind, cheerful and helpful, handing out free coffees/teas when requested. All this for just over £11 per night! Incredible, and unthinkable value in the West. The only drawback was that the small street was choc-a-bloc with cafés. I counted 11 all adjacent to one another, and none of them served alcohol. It must have been a 'temperance' area! One had to walk to the eastern side of town (although thankfully there was one decent watering hole quite close by) to find all the 'proper' pubs and bars!

I am a member of a Pool Club back home (The Old Buffers and Geriatrics Pool Club) which prides itself on the ineptitude of its members (all 8 of us). I managed to find a pool table in one of the bars and, to keep my hand in (well not necessary really because any form of 'practice' or indeed 'ability' is frowned upon at the OB&GPC), I was offered a game by a loitering Aussie tourist (left) who, fortunately, had a good sense of humour. Of course he won easily and wondered if I had ever played before.

Passing the illuminated bandstand on the way to the pub/bar/nightclub area I came across these people (right). They were sitting in a mesmerised state with an arm out in front of them looking at computer screens while making strange humming noises. I only record this to remind me and to try to find out what on earth they were doing! Very odd.

Left: Back past the illuminated Troung Tien vehicle/pedestrian bridge which, I think I mentioned previously, keeps changing colour.

Right: One of the many tourist cruise boats on the Perfume River, used by me several years ago to visit all the pagodas and Emperors' tombs in the vicinity.

Left: Also on the south-west side of the river is this very posh and luxurious  hotel, 'La Residence'. In French colonial days it was the residence of the French city governor. Several years ago I remember staying there. I must have been much wealthier in those days! It now costs a few hundred £s per night!

Right: .....and the swimming pool and bar at the back, on the riverside.

I think that more or less covers my visit to Hue, and very pleasant it was too. On leaving the 'Hue Lovely Homestead' Ms Lien offered to give me a lift, including my luggage, to the railway station on her 'moto' (scooter). I gratefully accepted even though it was only a 20 minute walk. It was very kind of her.....as said, they were all so hospitable and helpful. 

Left: The Hue railway station, 'Ga Hué'. There are cafés surrounding the place where one can sit and wait for the train. Mine was due to depart at 11.08am, and it did, on time, for the 17½ hour journey back to Saigon. It is about 600 miles with many stops....mostly at stations!

Which reminds me to comment on the Vietnamese language. It is the only south-east Asian language written in Roman script. On the surface it looks as if it should be quite simple to learn and speak, but this is a delusion. In the early days, before the emperors, the present day area of Vietnam was a mix of different provinces and languages, governed by local 'lords'. The various languages were written with Chinese type characters. In the mid-17th century a French missionary priest called Alexandre de Rhodes based himself in this part of the world. He invented a Vietnamese alphabet and vocabulary in Roman script. This was the basis for the current common language, adopted sometime in the early 19th century (I think). The vocabulary consists of small words, mostly between 1 and 5 letters long and many of noticeably French origin and pronunciation. Unfortunately, for the Western ear, this is a sensitive tonal language and the pronunciation of words/letters is governed by 'diacritics' ie. symbols and accents placed above and below a letter. The tone of pronunciation is subtle but critical! Also, the little words will mean something individually but combined together in sequence mean something totally different. So it's not simple at all. If you pronounce what you assume is a simple word incorrectly you will be misunderstood. To give an example (which is what reminded me) the word for a railway station is 'ga'. Pronounced as in the French 'gare'. But there is another word 'gà', pronounced very similarly but with a slight tonal drop. This 'gà' means 'chicken'. I was once in a supermarket in Saigon and wanted to buy some chicken. I asked for what I thought was chicken (gà) but was continually being shown out of the shop and directed to the railway station, nearby as it happened. However hard I tried, even flapping my elbows and making 'cluck cluck' noises, I couldn't get through to them. The Vietnamese, for all their many attributes, are not good at lateral thinking (this was a food shop for pity's sake!). Something is either 'correct' or 'not' to their ears. They would be completely useless at that parlour 'guessing game' Charades! Other 'ga's, such as the combination 'gâ gã gà' means, literally, "f**k the chicken"! Which is probably what you inadvertently say when trying desperately to pronounce the word 'ga' and thus cause some confusion, if not amusement. 'Khí ga' means 'gas'.

This time I had sensibly booked a 'soft' sleeper berth (right). They have 'hard' berths and 'soft' berths. The difference is nothing to do with the comfort of the mattress (which are universally hard) but with having either a four or six berth compartment.

The Vietnamese trains do (unlike our unreliable services) at least run on time, albeit rather slowly (ancient rolling stock), and with a max speed of about 50mph. At times the noise and motion are somewhat disturbing. It really was, on occasions, a rattle and roll ride with the occasional screeching noise accompanied by loud bangs and thumps. 

I shared my compartment initially with a charming and amusing Japanese gentleman (a civil servant from Tokyo) who had embarked in Hanoi the previous evening. He got off at Da Nang. He was on a tourist mission to Hoi An (famous for its Japanese bridge and making a suit for you in the time it takes you to drink a cup of coffee). From then on I had a couple of Vietnamese for company who were pleasantly quiet. Left: There was some dramatic scenery while travelling along the cliff tops between Hue and Da Nang. (photography failure as normal).

There was a good 'room service' selling food and drink and despite the bumpy, noisy ride I managed to get some sleep. The noise hopefully camouflaged my snoring! There was also a very clean and serviceable loo.  I lost count of the number of stops, but we got into Saigon railway station (right), on schedule at 6.40am, or I should say 'Ga Sài Gòn'. But I won't say it too loudly because it will probably, with my pronunciation, mean something very rude!

I arrived, shaken but not stirred, in plenty of time for the New Year's Eve celebrations. I had booked myself back into the splendid Thien Hai hotel (for a good kip), but had to make another booking for NYE onwards as they were fully booked then. Further report to follow and, hopefully, some videos of the fireworks and entertainment.