Hoi An to Hue – September 22
Our clothing was delivered to the hotel just after 7am. We had a quick breakfast and then got on the bus bound for Hue, an approximately four hour trip. Not surprisingly, the bus stopped after an hour of travel time so we could patronize a cafe. Forced pit stops at restaurants are a staple of South East Asian travel.
We arrived in Hue and were met with a torrential downpour. The rain we had been lucky enough to avoid so far on our trip had caught up with us over the past week. While Fab went to rest in the hotel room, I braved the storm and headed out to try and book a tour to the DMZ the following day. Accompanying me was Lan, an good ole boy from Pensacola, Florida. We had met in the hotel reception and found that we both wanted to go on a tour with small group of people rather than a large package tour. Lan, whose full name is Lancaster, had come to Vietnam with the sole purpose of visiting the DMZ. He was the type of guy who worships guns, loves his country but hates his government, and thinks killing stuff is awesome. He had even went as far as to get a VC uniform tailor made in Hoi An. Despite his brash exterior, he was a nice guy who, like a lot of Americans, simply doesn’t edit what comes out of his mouth.
Lan initially wanted to book a tour with an ex-VC soldier, but this proved to be too difficult. Instead, we settled on a experienced tour guide who lived through the war in the DMZ area. However, we did manage to get a personal mini-bus for the day for just the three of us.
