Rising Damp

Having spoken to a kind chap that owned a hotel down the road we discovered the cheapest way to Hue involved a six hour stop in Ninh Binh. Having read about nearby Tam Coc we opted for this and set off on a hot and sticky journey on some rather gritty buses- Blakey managing to send small children into floods of tears simply by smiling at them (I think it's the beard).

Arriving at Ninh Binh and transferring to the hotel we were to be picked up from, by balancing on the back of motorbikes, the cheerful owner set about organizing our afternoon. After a bite to eat we headed to the beautiful Tam Coc, described as Halong Bay on the rice paddies. This was a smaller-scale fresh water version of the karst mounds, but no less amazing. We were paddled around on a little rowing boat by a very charming couple who managed to get a tip and a sale from us due to their friendliness and good service rather than pushiness and aggression as seems the way in Vietnamese business when to comes to westerners.

After two blissful hours of peace, watching the sun slowly drift down through the sky as we paddled through the little stream waters and under limestone caverns we returned to the hotel. Our day of travel had brought with it the unexpected treat of visiting this place and once again we were forced to admit that though our first impression highlighted the negative aspects of this country, there really is a lot of positive to focus on.



A crowded sleeper bus in which Blakey got hugged by the chap next to him in our thin bunks saw our early arrival in Hue. Drizzle filled the air and talk of an upcoming storm had been mounting, though was still ill-informed at this point. After a quick breakfast we impressed ourselves with our determined stamina heading for the Citadel where we wondered around the beautiful architecture and secluded gardens but after visiting so many temples and palaces over the months the rain here really did put a dampener on the whole experience. More than the surroundings we enjoyed winding each other up and after taking a feeble amount of photographs and starting to chill more severely we headed for a lunch/dinner (we seem to have become accustomed to two meals a day now).

Sat in the restaurant we asked our helpful waitress to give some impartial advice on the storm- worried that our hotel may try to scare us into business with them and aware that "typhoons" happen once a year here, so our relatively mild experience of weather may lead us to over react. Although unable to help us initially when we went to pay for our meal we realized she had spent the duration waiting for us researching the forecasts on the internet. She suggested we stay put for another day at least as flooding was a real possibility and described how last year it had come up to her knees in the restaurant we were sat in (far closer to the river then our hotel thankfully). Wondering how they cope with such events annually I asked if she would be at work tomorrow or staying at home and she described how ten years ago the worst floods in her memory, she had served pizza whilst wading through hip deep in water- hardcore!

After returning to our hotel and questioning whether we should warn our parents of the dramatic events soon to arrive we discovered that news of the freak storm at Halong Bay had reached home after three tourists had died at sea. We went to the lobby of our hotel to use the internet where another group of British tourists were also deciding whether to move to Hoi An the following day. After relaying the advice from our waitress and checking the weather forecasts (it seems to be heading straight this way!) they decided to sit it out with us in Hue.

We started to discuss Halong Bay and were shocked to find they had spent a day on the boat with the tourists that died but by a twist of fate were taken back to the island when the accident happened. It has given us all a shock and made us think carefully about taking any risks. We really were lucky that Blakey hurt his back as we would have been on the water that day when the winds seemed to come from nowhere.

After a night of listening to the wind and rain pelting outside of our window and watching CNN for more dramatic reports of the upcoming storm (two months of rain to fall in 24 hours!) we decided to head out and stock up on grub before things got too bad to leave. Too little too late it seems! When we went downstairs and left the hotel we were ankle deep in water, when we reached the road knee deep and when I crossed the road holding a locals hand for support, it came right up to my thighs. Ohhh my! The shops were all closed so we returned and gave our hotel some business instead.

After a day spent rolling in our room having another bath for the novelty of the tub and watching three quarters of Men in Black before the power cut out again- this time indefinitely it seems we were shocked to realize the water had risen to knee deep outside the hotel door in just a few hours and we are still waiting for the actual storm to hit.

Hungry, but uninspired by our hotel menu we decided to test yesterdays restaurant ad ordered pizza. 30 minutes later, exactly as promised, a beaming couple brought delicious food to our door through the deep water, their ponchos more colourful in the canal like streets. Now that is service!

When Blake went down one last time that night the waters had finally breached the hotel steps and the entire ground floor was submerged in murky water. As we fell asleep listening to the rain we wondered what an earth it would look like in the morning. So imagine our surprise the next day when the water had gone down significantly. Our hotel and the cafe across the way were back to their pre-flood states with no hint of the previous days events save the stream running through the alleyway between them. We actually headed out for breakfast (and a few photos obviously!) before retiring to our room for another marathon film session. Over the last couple of days we had watched most of Men in Black and the December Boys (power stopped in both films at crucial moments!) Zathura, Space Adventure, Shoot Em Up, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, I am Legend and some black comedy about getting off drink to be a better mafia killer as well staring for too long at some really crap TV like "My College Roadtrip". When we weren't watching films we were generally watching news for updates or emailing home to let our poor parents know that we are ok. Still, one good thing has come from their worry, my mum has finally worked out how to search for things on the internet and is now working out exactly where I am in the world with what the news and weather are doing there.

By the end of the day we had both had that muzzy feeling that comes from a day indoors and went for a short stroll to get some fresh air. Things were so much clearer, people were in full tidying mode and very soon it would be difficult to tell anything had ever happened. Satisfied with the improved conditions and bored of our hotel walls we booked a ticket for the next day. We may as well see a soggy Hoi An as a soggy Hue, right?!