A sitting in Aloui

I am sitting ina quiet coffe shop at the junction of the Ho Chi Minh highway and the road to Hue, listening to a bunch of men playing some kind of chess that I have never seen before. I have come half way from Khe Sanh and it only 10:30am! I thought it would take until lunch but I knocked it over in short order. That is not to say anything about the experience of the journey itself. While motoring down the road I was trying to thnk of a good descriptor, the best I could come up with was "graceful". It felt like a graceful old woman after the effects of yesterdays bash. The first bit climbed alongside the lake created by the damming of the Dakron river. It was a beautiful ribbon of sIghts and just gorgeous vistas. Steep hills on either side, on the opposite side to the lake it was untouched jungle. I kept having to stop and take a picture of the scenes as they appeared. After a few Kms of this (about 20) I rode up and over a big pass and descended into what I decided must be the Ashau Valley of hamburger hill fame. It was soooo beautiful. Picturesque in every way. I did not stop to photo here because I decided that I would not be able to do it justice and anything less would be a sin. My dear readers this is something that you must do yourselves. It is quite easy to organise a trip fom Hue either by bike or by bus. You would go first to Khe Sanh and then come back via the Ho Chi Minh Highway to Aloui and then down to Hue. It is worth it at least once in your life.

I am now in Hue. I arrived here at about 2:30 and have booked into the Valentine hotel. They are very friendly and they have baths in the room!! Unsuprisingly I spent about an hour luxuriating in the warm embrace of piping hot water followed by an equally balming hot shower. I feel rejuvenated. I'll be here for at least 4 nights, chilling and checking out the sites. Particularly as it relates to the Vietnamese emporers of the Nguyen dynasty. Stay tuned chaps.