15th November - Drive from Hoi An to Hue   Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     

 
 
 
 

A scenic drive from Hoi An to Hue
on Geoff's birthday, plus a long rainy walk
Wednesday 15th November 2017
 

We were sorry to be leaving Hoi An today as we had really enjoyed our stay here.
It was Geoff's birthday and there nice surprises all day long!

 
 
Geoff's birthday breakfast of pancakes and caramelised bananas. He is wearing Bruce's gift T-shirt.
 
The hotel foyer in Hoi An where we waited to leave. We were told that there would be a slight delay while they "checked the room".
 
This is the real reason for the delay. The hotel staff assembled to sing happy birthday and bring cake.
Our guide, Tien, had managed to get hold of Bruce's phone to take the video!
 
Tien adopted this little stray in Hoi An and asked our permission to take him home to Hue with her. How could we resist this face?
 
Tho Quang Bay, taken from the road between Hoi An and Hue
 
A rare sighting of a passenger train, which, we were told, was travelling from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
 
 
Yun An Cu - a saltwater lake
 
 
 
 
 
 
We arrived in Hue at around lunch time. Our hotel, La Residence, looked rather elegant.
 
 
 
On arrival in Hue, our tour guide, Tien, gave Geoff a birthday card and a gift, on behalf of her company.
 
Our hotel room at La Residence, Hue.
 
 
Our balcony!
 
Gifts from our local tour operator, the English tour operator and the hotel we left this morning.
Two bottles of wine and chocolate cake!
 
We had a free afternoon. Tien recommended this restaurant very close to the hotel for lunch. We were a little dubious, but decided to give it a try nevertheless. After a few minutes we decided that it wasn't for us and left. Nobody batted an eyelid!
 
Tien also suggested that we might like to go to the heart of the tourist area, where there would be a better choice of restaurants. We could have taken a taxi, but after the long car journey, we thought that a walk would do us good. Under normal circumstances, a 2km walk would be nothing for us, but in the heat and not quite knowing where we were going, it felt a lot longer. Nevertheless, after getting to the main tourist area, we managed to find a nice looking restaurant, which was on one of our recommended lists.
 
Seen as we walked along the river to the restaurant.
 
We had a good lunch here.
 
Afterwards, we explored the area before walking back to our hotel.
Half way back it started to rain... heavily... and we arrived back drenched!
 
Later, there was a knock at the door - it was a birthday gift from this hotel too!
 
We had a wonderful dinner at the Le Parfum Restaurant in the hotel.
It was an excellent way to end Geoff's birthday celebrations!
 
 
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble