9/15/10 – 9/18/10 (ha noi)
Annie LinHa Noi – Hue
It was no fun waking up at 3:30am and being sick only made the matter worse. The light at the end of the tunnel was that we just had to get on a short one-hour flight to Hue and then we could check into our hotel and go back to sleep. The flight to Hue was pleasant and there weren’t many passengers so Jon and I each had a row to ourselves. A driver from the hotel picked us up and whisked us away to Amigo Hotel. We thought it was a funny name and not sure if they knew what the word amigo meant. We tried joking with them in Spanish but didn’t get much of a response.
After we checked into our room we drew the shades and went back to sleep. We woke up intermittently over the next two days to have meals. There was constant banging from the construction next door, which wouldn’t have been an issue if we were out during the day sightseeing. We were too sick to leave the hotel but also staying there was causing us to go stir crazy. The staff was worried about our health and offered to change rooms and gave us hot lemon tea. They took very good care of us and checked in with us every day.
We finally succumbed and bought some medicine with some help from the hotel staff. The pharmacist loaded us with medicine. If anyone has lived in Asia you will know that they take pills for everything and the doctor has you taking double doses. The pharmacist gave us three different types of medicine and told us to take two tablets of each once a day. We felt really sedated from the medicine and after a day decided to reduce the number of pills. Instead I convinced Jon that having a few local beers at a pub would kills the germs in our body just as well. While my theory didn't work it was nice to get out.
After a few days we started to feel better and explore the town. On our last full day in Hue we rented a motorbike and visited two tombs and the Citadel across the river. During the Nguyen Dynasty in the 1800-1940’s the rulers built extravagant tombs for their afterlife. The tombs have different levels with courtyards and some rulers even lived at the mausoleums before their death. The Citadel is located across the Perfume River where most of the locals live. It gave us a different flavor of life, away from the touristy areas. Within the Citadel we also visited the Thai Hoa Palace, where the emperor held official functions.
We would have liked to have seen more of Hue and tasted more of their local delicacies since the area is well known for their cuisine. But we are also glad to have gotten the rest we needed to get over our colds. We want to thank the ladies at Amigo Hotel for taking care of us. Adios!
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