After leaving My Son, we travelled back towards Hoi An to have lunch before making the 3 hour trip to Hue.
This particular meal was enjoyed at a conference centre and restaurant designed and built to look like a docked steam liner from a bygone age…
This was one of the napkins…with nautical theme and all…
Our waitress helped us to ‘make’ the first dish…Banana flower salad on a prawn paste cracker
The dining room…there was another party of 42 expected, but they had not arived by the time we left…
Our starter dish…most of the set menus that we enjoyed ahd at least 8 courses!
I am beginning to enjoy a dash of Soy sauce on my rice…the Vietnamese version being milder than the Chinese sauce
We had a view of this from the window…luckily neither were on the menu!
We had to go back to Da Nang in order to head over the incredible Hai Van Pass to get to Hue…this was the beach at Da Nang…
The Hai Van Pass crosses over a spur of the Truong Son (Annamite) Range that emerges from the west and juts into the South China Sea, forming the Hai Van Peninsula and the adjoining Son Tra Island. The pass, which once formed the boundary between the kingdoms of Dai Viet and Champa, also forms a boundary between the climates of northern and southern Vietnam(info from Wikipedia)
25 km of twisting and winding hell, but the view from the top is spectacular and well worth the time rather than using the tunnel which has been built to bypass this more scenic route.At 40kph it is a long slow drive.
There are the remains of French forts at the top as well as a post office and a few souvenir shops…
There are a series of small villages and HUGE lakes as you descend the pass and head towards Hue…so many photo ops, and just not enough time.So lots of images taken while driving!
Cemeteries seem to be built along the side of the road here…most disconcerting having just come off a pass that has claimed hundreds of lives!
Traffic is manic, but I have it on good authority that it is not not nearly as bad as India.Lights flash as drivers overtake in the face of oncoming traffic…
This was the temp in Hue as we arrived!
The population are very aware of the sun, hence they cover up all the time…
We were delivered,safely, to our hotel and left to unpack and then hit the streets of Hue in search of new experiences, food and shops!
