“I come from a land down under” (Men at Work)

From Vientiane we headed to Savannakhet, a town near the border with Vietnam, for a transit stop. Then it was up early the next day and on board our air conditioned coach to get to Hue in Vietnam. We had to dash to the border which apparently closes between 11am and 1pm, and had a very civilised border crossing (excluding the small incident with a passport that went missing for a while causing significant consternation, but not bad given that it is the first of such incidents in 19 weeks of travelling thus far). Then we were in Vietnam. We headed straight across the country to the coast. We arrived into Hue in the afternoon and got set up in the hotel which was, as usual, right in the centre of things. A quick lunch at the DMZ bar and then Cheryl and I wandered around the shops looking at clothes (we weren’t to know what Hoi An was going to be like…) After the relatively conservative countries we have been travelling through, we are now in countries that are very used to tourists, and where being covered up, while sensible mainly from a sun protection point of view, is not a requirement. And it is fair to say that most of our clothing is reaching the stage where it needs to be replaced! The next day, Jo and I headed off on a boat trip down the river. Ann, Rich, Elaine, Chris and Shinnick had headed off for the DMZ tour, and many of the others were touring the citadel in Hue, so the group had pretty much all of the sights well covered. Our boat was a rather strange square platform with some decorative dragons on the front, and a rather helpful “tourist boat” sign on the side (as if there was any doubt!). We headed up the river, our first stop being a pagoda which is one of the most important sites in Vietnam, and which displays the car which a monk drove himself in through the streets of Hanoi before setting fire to himself in protest at religious oppression. Then we headed further up the river visiting a number of tombs which are large complexes of buildings which people built for themselves during their lifetime, using them as palaces, and then they became monuments to them after their deaths. Two of the tombs were old and partially in ruins, but set in amazing gardens, with lakes and, fortunately, some shade! For the first time in a while we were seeing bright sunshine and blue skies, and with it came incredible heat! Bring on the clouds I say! The third of the tombs was the most recent, and inside was covered with amazing mosaic tiling. The tour included “motorcycle transfers” – we assumed (incorrectly it would appear) that this would mean tuk-tuks, however upon arriving at the drop-off point we were confronted with a gaggle of motorcycle drivers thrusting helmets in our direction and waving us over to their bikes. River boat (not the one we were on, ours was square): Pagoda: The tomb: Inside the tomb: From the tombs we headed back along the river to Hue, and hid in the hotel for a while enjoying the air conditioning and WiFi. We started corralling the troops around 7ish to head to a restaurant just up the road from the hotel, and then on to the bar on the corner which Jo and I had particularly enjoyed as it reminded us of pubs back in Australia (apparently it is a southern hemisphere thing as the South Africans on the trip also agreed!). After a delicious dinner of traditional Hue food, we headed to the bar, and the party commenced. It was a great night with almost everyone there, some rather drinkable Odyssey Blue cocktails (the one that you get given when you leave the trip is evil, these were actually quite nice), and the opportunity to write on the walls in marker pen which is always exciting. A couple of the group had written some limericks extolling the virtues of the Odyssey tour, Pete Tim and Cheryl, and talking about some of the exploits of individuals along the way. The winners were chosen and written on walls and ceilings, wherever we could find space, and then we all signed our names up on the ceiling. Leaving our mark on the DMZ bar: As usual, we started requesting songs (they had already played “I come from a land down under”, so didn’t need to request that!) and they didn’t have the group favourite, “Put your hands up for Detroit”, but they did have an ipod connection, so my ipod was handed over and provided the music for most of the remainder of the evening (thanks to Rich for reminding me to pick it up the next day… that would have been a disaster!). Fortunately the shuffle-uffagus was kind. There was a trip Odyssey Overland And nothing went quite as planned But we still had great craic* And no one wants to go back Coz as far as we care it is all grand * Irish, for a good time, as in “havin’ da craic” Odyssey Blues:

Cheers!