Day 46 - It's Hùe, today!

It looks kind of artistic!

Day 46 - 08th August

So we're up at 4am, raring to getting to Hùe. Anne and Julie are going to join us and we all headed in the dark to the pick up point (the place where the annoying man was).

No bus.

It's three hours later, still no bus. The man tells us it's not his fault, which were not disputing but as I pointed out to him, he is an ambassador for the company and should be doing his best to find out what is going on. We met two other English people who were annoyed about the situation with too and vented their fury to us.

So we all head off for breakfast after being told that the bus will be arriving at 10:30 now. This is all the information we had to go on. Noodles and black coffee are a surprisingly good combo in the morning when you're tired. Dropping them down yourself and slurping loudly is definitely not a good combo!

We headed back to Easy Tiger and waited it out. I managed to get a few more sports articles written so that was a productive use of my time. My iPad started to work but is constantly in need of a reboot - another confirmation why Apple products tick me off so much. I'm not getting an iPhone until they sort out all the updating crap! All that money and still no flash player. I don't think so!

So Sèbastien and I go back to the ticket office at ten. The man is playing poker on the computer with his friend ignoring us. We asked him politely to contact the driver and finally we were told the bus had been held up due to a flat tyre, delaying its departure for numerous hours, but thankfully it was now on its way.

So we rushed back to grab Jordy, Anne and Julie, bidding farewell to Sabrina, and moving back to the pick up point. When we get on, most of the sleeping beds are taken. So Jordy and Sèbastien found one and I shared the back compartments with Anne and Julie. What a cracking experience that was! Those Danish girls sure are funny.

All in all, what a cock up! Camel Travel are horrdendous and I'd be disinclined to recommend them to anyone. Unless someone wanted to wait 6 hours for a bus.

Four hours later, we are in Hùe.

We had lunch and hailed a cab. A woman ran up to me, demanding 10,000 VND (about 50p) for the cab's parking. I told her it was just picking up but she was adamant. The cab driver stood like a lemon and was encouraging me to pay. My response - we're not parking here, so we're not paying. I got in and received the approval from my travelling buddies. A small victory - Dan 1-0 scam artist.

We reached our intended hostel but it was fully booked so we hunted around and found Chillout Hostel. It was clean, the female manager was really friendly and when we told her we wanted to drive to Hoi An, she said she'd get us great bikes for 400,000 VND ($20) a day rental and they would transport our luggage for us. We snapped it up and were rewarded with samples of her bikes. They were great condition so we booked them. I'd definitely recommend this place to people, they couldn't do enough to help us. Camel Travel - take note!

As the sun went down, we all showered and got ready. Our other roommate, Christen - also from Denmark - was welcomed by the group and he joined us as we headed out to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I had a blinding Tandoori chicken curry with rice and garlic naan. Sèbastien's and Anne's were a little too spicy.

We then ended up in a bar playing Jenga and drinking cocktails. I had a Cuba Libre (Del-Boy would be proud) and watched Julie twice topple the tower. The noise was too much so we went back to a bar local to our district for a round of beers. Premier League football was on so I was entertained, much to Julie's annoyance - her boyfriend being a striker in the Danish Superliga.

Eventually, we headed back, tired from a long day and went to sleep. But not before everyone made a racket to keep me awake for another hour. Singing songs, telling stories and laughing were not my idea of a lullaby. 

The temple and biking to Hoi An were going to be a challenge but one I relished!