First Day in Hue, Vietnam and crashing the "Buffalo Run"

June 7, 2013

After an amazing time in northern Vietnam, I traveled on an overnight bus from Hanoi to Hue.  This overnight bus ride was my first in Vietnam and it was an interesting one.  My seat was all the way in the rear of the bus, and I was laying in the middle of two other foreigners.  All of the other seats on the bus were single seats except for the six in the back of the bus.  There were three on the bottom, where I was, and three right above us.  These three seats were pretty much one huge seat and the three of us where laying shoulder to shoulder.  The guy on my right joined the ride about 2 hours into the trip and had headphones on and didn't really say a word.  The guy to my left was an interesting 24 year old British guy who had just spent the last 4 months traveling in China alone.  We had a nice conversation, for the first few hours of the ride, about our travels.  The rest of the bus consisted of single seats along each side of the bus and single seats in the middle of the bus with an isle on each side of the center seat.  Being placed all the way in the rear of this bus seemed like a stroke of bad luck because it was right above the engine and there was heat coming up from under the seats.  I also felt a little bit claustrophobic because I was crammed in between two men and I felt that if there was an accident, or the bus somehow ended up in water, I was surely doomed.  The isles of the bus were barely wide enough for me to walk through and I had no idea if there was actually an emergency exit.  Another thing that would have made it more difficult for me to escape were the Vietnamese people that were sleeping in the isles of the bus.  Apparently, once the bus is full, people can ride in the isles of the bus for an extremely low fare. Many poorer Vietnamese use this mode of transportation all the time.  Also, being right above the engine made me think of the possibility of a fire and that also scared me.  After about 4 hours in the bus, it stopped at a rest area.  I went to the bathroom and then stood on the side of the building in front of our bus with the British guy.  We talked some more as he had a cigarette and watched the dish washing operation for the restaurant on the side of the building.  I took a picture of it as we waited to depart.

As I was in a very uncomfortable situation in the rear of this bus, and just wanted to sleep to pass the time, I took an allergy pill that has a wonderful drowsy effect.  I fell asleep listening to music shortly after departing the rest area and slept peacefully.  About 5 hours later it was daylight and I woke up sweating and uncomfortable.  For some reason, the driver turned off the air conditioning on the bus and it got really hot especially where I was over top of the engine.  The stuffy, hot air was making my feeling of claustrophobia quite a bit worse. I was getting really sweaty and the British guy and I were discussing the intellect of the Vietnamese people operating the bus.  After about 20 minutes, the air conditioning came back on and I was able to breath again. I took a few pictures at this time as we waited to arrive in Hue.

At around 7 or so in the morning we arrived in Hue and everyone got out of the bus.  Once I got my bag from under the bus, I met a Dutch guy who was also looking to find the Hue Backpackers Hostel where I had a reservation.  We found out that it was only a mile or so walk away, so we began to make our way there on foot.  It was then that I realized that I had lost one of my flip flops which I had kept them in the side pocket of my bag. I gave the remaining flip flop to the Dutch guy because he only had one shoe.  We easily found the hostel and there were no vacancies, so the Dutch guy went down the road to find accommodation.  I had a reservation, but I couldn't get into my room until 11 am, so I took a seat at the bar inside the hostel and ordered some breakfast and coffee.  I struck up a conversation with a guy from Turkey that was living and working at the hostel.  He had been there for about a month and wasn't sure exactly how long he would stay there.  He said they gave him a place to stay and paid him enough to be able to enjoy himself.  I thought he was truly living an adventurous life and found myself quite jealous.  I remember working out the details in my mind and wondering if I would enjoy doing something similar for a few months.  I guess that possibility still exists for me.

I had stayed at the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel and this hostel in Hue was owned by the same three Australian guys.  I was very interested to talk to this Turkish guy and we discussed the Hostel's operation and what good business they do.  In Hanoi there are two Hanoi Backpackers Hostels and they are both huge and full of foreigners traveling around.  They have free breakfast and they coordinate trips.  They also have computers and amazing wifi.  Staying in their hostel in Hanoi was a great way to meet people and find out about places to go.  The Vietnamese women that work in these hostels speak English and are very helpful and friendly. As the Turkish guy and I were talking, a man of about 40 came up and joined the conversation.  After a few minutes, I realized that this man was one of the three owners of the Hanoi and Hue Backpackers Hostels.  He was a really down to Earth, nice guy and we had a nice chat.  After about 30 minutes of talking with him, he asked me what my plans were for the day.  I told him that I didn't have any plans, but I guessed I would walk around Hue a bit and see what there was to see.  He told me that there was a group going to a beach where a Frenchmen he was friends with was in the process of building a resort and asked if I'd like to join.  I asked how much it costed and he said this time it's free, so I agreed to join.  After eating, the owner told me there was a shower I could use next to the bar, so I got clean and waited until the group was leaving for the beach at 10 am.  While I was waiting I spoke with one of the Vietnamese women that worked there about a tour of the Khe Sahn air base.  I really wanted to see some of the war history and Khe Sahn, which was the site of a major siege during the Vietnam War, was only about an hour and a half away.  She made a call and booked a tour for me for the following day.

At 10 am the van to the beach was getting ready to leave, so I stood nearby and waited to see if the owner remembered that he invited me.  Sure enough, once people started to get into the van, he asked me if I still wanted to go and I eagerly jumped in the van with a smile.  Once inside the van, I exchanged names with the man who was sitting next to me.  It turned out that he was one of the other owners of the Hanoi/Hue Backpackers Hostels.  He was actually one of the original owners of the Hanoi Backpackers and he and the guy that invited me were childhood friends. In the van, were the two owners of the hostel, a driver and about 9 other traveling backpackers. I had a nice discussion with the owner sitting next to me about our trip to the beach.  I was wondering why the two owners were taking a group of backpackers to the beach.  He told me that 6 of the 9 other travelers on the bus were part of the new "Buffalo Run" tour that the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel just started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNk-vR5va_Q  This was actually only the second time the "Buffalo Run" tour had been done and the owner was still working out the logistics.  The best way for him to figure out the most efficient way to run the tour was to actually do it himself and work out any problems.  Once he had worked out all of the kinks he would train someone who worked for the hostel to be the leader of the tour in the future.  This tour consisted of a 4 day scooter ride from Hanoi to Hue with stops at various places along the way.  While in Hue, the tour goes to the beach for the day to relax after a long ride.  After Hue the tour continues south along the coast to Hoi An.  Myself, and the other two guys who were not part of the tour, were just in the right place at the right time and got a free trip to the beach because there were open seats in the van.  Before leaving Hue for the beach, we made a quick stop at a famous temple.  It was a beautiful day, so I was able to get some nice pictures.

Inside this park was the car that the famous Buddist monk Thich Quang Duc had set himself on fire next to in a 1963 protest against the South Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddists.

Here is a picture of Thich Quang Duc on fire in Saigon. (Notice the car behind him)
                                       

Here is a picture I took.

After visiting this park and temple we made our way to the beach.  There was nothing on this beach except for a private beach bar and some small little thatched roofed huts people could lay inside.  The beach was rented by a Frenchmen of about 45 and his Vietnamese wife.  He was in the process of building a small resort of bungalows and his wife had just opened up this beach bar.  The 11 of us took seats around the bar and ordered beers, relaxed and ate steamed clams.  It was such a nice day that I immediately took some pictures.

This last picture is of the two owners of the Hanoi/Hue Backpackers as they were enjoying their beers and conversation.  The woman in this picture is the Vietnamese wife of one of one of the owners.

After a few beers and some wine, all of us went for a swim in the ocean.  It was such an amazing day and the water felt great.  In early May, a month before this, I was in Southern Thailand and believe me this beach easily rivaled those beaches. Vietnam would be a popular tropical destination if they had islands like Thailand does.  During the 10 hours we were at the beach I made friends with the other travelers.  They were from Ireland, Canada, the USA, Norway and England.  Actually one of the guys that came with us to the beach, but also wasn't part of the Buffalo Run, was an American that I hung out with the week before in Hanoi.  He and I spent a few hours hanging out with two Dutch girls outside the Hanoi Backpackers the day before I went to Sapa.  The guy from Norway, who also wasn't part of the tour,was about 19 or 20 years old and had purchased a scooter in Southern Vietnam.  He was making his was through Vietnam on the scooter alone.  I met more than a few people who were doing that same thing and they all raved about how amazing the trip was.  The beauty of traveling by scooter is that they buy the bike in either the north or the south and when they arrive on the other side of the country they can just sell the bike to another person for about the same price they originally bought it for.

In the evening, we played volleyball until we could no longer see the ball well enough to play.  I also made time to take some pictures.  These pictures are not photo-shopped at all.  The sky really had all of those colors.  It was an amazing day!

I could not have planned a day this perfect.  I arrived in Hue with no plans or expectations about what to do or see.  I just knew that I was open to experiencing life and meeting new people.  This was my plan for the whole trip and many many times it worked out wonderfully for me, but this was a magical day.  Remembering this day reminds me that the World is full of possibilities and all I have to do is put myself out there and let them happen to me.