Hue

About a week ago we left warm and sunny Laos and crossed into Vietnam on Highway 8.  This is a rathe remote crossing but the scenery promised to be spectacular, and I"m sure it was.  However we were stuck in clouds and drizzle and couldn't see a thing.  For the majority of the past week that has been our weather. Several of the days have been mostly dry for riding but it is still damp and we have to work to keep everything dry. 

Most of the ride has been on Highway 1, the main north-south route which is a busy highway.  The traffic is pretty easy to deal with but the constant honking of car/bus/truck/motorcycle horns gets old in hurry.  The drivers are pretty good however so that helps.  We rode two days ago for about 6hours on a section of the Ho Chi Minh trail and that was a wonderfully flat, smooth and quite ride.  On that section we crossed the old DMZ at the 17th parallel but not much for signage to tell you anything all all about it.

We have given up on camping due to weather, and lack of places to camp, so we've been guesthousing/hotelling it at between $15-20 per night.  All the places are a bit musty and no heat so we finish the ride in damp clothes and start again the next day in the same damp clothes.  As you must guess we are looking forward to eventually getting someplace dry.  We'll continue south tomorrow, Dec 23, and cross at 1700'  pass so hopfully that will help change the weather pattern.

We found this internet connection while just riding around Hue so didn't bring the cable to download any pictures so yo will have to wait for that.  We spent this morning touring the "Citadel", the fortress of the last empire in Vietnam that lasted from early 1800's to about 1945.  Very impressive place that suffered much during the French and American wars, plus the weather and general neglect.  It has been placed on the World Heritage Site list and they are slowly rebuilding it.   Was well worth the extra night here to see it and the other sites in Hue.

We are about 5500km into our ride and the Surly Long Haul Truckers just keep on trucking along.  Very strong, dependable bikes. 

Hope everyone has a great Christmas this year and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  We miss you all.

Stan