The night bus was like a luxury sedan compared to the local bus I took the day before. I got off in Hue and met up with Alby at his hotel which at $18/night was well worth paying for after a few restless nights before.
He'd been in Hue for 5 days or so already so he'd met some locals that helped us show the way. We. Got. Weird.
I ran some errands, did laundry, etc and then we met up with one of our new friends, Tho, for a beer to meet an Easy Rider. I was a bit nervous about motorcycling down to Hoi An (actually borderline pissing myself) so we had a beer and chatted with the rider. Nam turned out to be a really chill dude that's been hauling tourists for 10 years or so. After a handful of "yo's!!" We fist bumped and put down the deposit to leave for Danang then Hoi An in a few days.
Our night kinda devolved from there. We got some bun hen (great clam soup) and then continued drinking at different bars. Being the bachelors that we are we cast a wide net throughout the night, telling all the bartenders how we wanted to buy them drinks later at the bar we'd end up at - Brown Eyes.
Well, they all showed up. Since all drinks were bogo, we got thuper weird. The music started out with lame oldies and I was afraid it was one of those bars in Asia where they're still behind the times. But late night, they through down some SICK beats. Like Bootie on steroids. In retrospect I guess I shoulda spent more time talking to the girls that had joined us, but really all I wanted to do was take off my shoes, let my hair down and just DAHNCE.
Because we had a few local friends in Hue we had the chance to learn a ton of Vietnamese and eat incredibly well. Aside from the formalities we learned how to order food, bargain and charm the ladies. We also ducked into a handful of places to try all the Hue specialities. Our last dinner was ridic. We went out with a local tour manager that Alby had met, Thuy, Thuy's wife Le and Alby's mom Jule for some bbq. For clams, sauteed veggies, ribs, grilled pork and bbq pork intestines with 10 beers we paid like $16 total. Gah I love this country.
We even spent 30 minutes one afternoon at Thuy's office helping him correct his English brochures over coffee. Looks like Alby's even got a job offer to work for the tourism center. LTD baby.
We checked out the DMZ which was alright I spose, though for a 12 hour tour we spent 9 hours on the bus. The best part for me was hearing about the Vietnamese perception of the war, talking about how imperialistic the U.S. was and how scared and weak-willed the Americans were. Really intriguing considering we usually only see accounts via Mel Gibson slaughtering animalistic Charlie movies.
We woke up this AM and hopped on the back of motorcycles to head south. We hummed through rice paddies and then hit the beach, cruising down the Pacific's idyllic waters, crammed with fishing villages and women foraging for oysters and clams. We then climbed up through the mountains through the Hai Van pass. I always said I'd never get on a motorcycle but after talking to some locals and other tourists, I discovered that most buses take the tunnel through the mountains and miss the scenery. I'd never forgive myself and I'm glad I took the bike. It blew my mind. The scenery, weaving through the hills, cruising through the sun - simply unreal.
We got into Danang and met up with some of Alby's friends that he met in Halong. It's a beautiful place but kinda a surreal no man's land with tons of new construction. We're off to dinner soon and then taking the motobikes the last 30 kms to Hoi An manana.
Godspeed and remember to live the dream.
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