Hue is pronounced like “way” but with a slight H sound in front of it… so yes, we made a ton of jokes while we were there such as “which hue?” and “no hue, Jose.” We’re either super hilarious, or we have been spending too much quality time together… either hue, it was a fun stop.

We stayed at a great little hostel in a part of town where the streets are closed to cars every weekend. Instead, the streets are filled with people walking around and local kids playing games from soccer to badminton. At one point as we were walking, a little boy no older than five marched up to Tristan, threw a soccer ball at his chest, and yelled, in English, “let’s go!” So Tristan joined their game, and needless to say, got owned by a 5-year-old.

For our first full day, we opted to do a day tour into the Bach Ma National Park. We got picked up at our hotel, and for the next 1-2 hours began the drive to the park. The first hour was fine and through normal, flat roads. The second hour was more…extreme. It was up a steep, twisty, mountainside road that had a cliff drop off on one side the entire time. It was so high up that if you looked out the window it honestly felt like you were in a plane. This, coupled with the fact that the bus driver apparently didn’t realize that the break pedal was a feature of the vehicle, made for an interesting and terrifying ride both up and down the road.

The mysterious haunted building:We (finally) arrived (alive) at the top. The first thing we noticed was a small overgrown building. We aren’t exactly sure what happened, but according to our guide, years ago, something caused the monks living there to leave, lock all the doors, and put a “spell” on the property to lock the doors, and keep the evil spirits from escaping. As such, people aren’t allowed into in the building. Yeah…no thanks!

We started a short hike up to the top with our group and it was amazing to finally be in the woods, breathing such fresh air. The first part of the walk was hardly strenuous, and concluded with us having coffee together as a group inside a small building on top of the mountain.

Loving that fresh air (this was before he mooned the camera, a photo we have chosen not to include in this family friendly blog):Coffee break with the crew:Checking our a tunnel used during the Vietnam war to transport and store supplies:Afterwards, we continued on our hike and ended up at a beautiful waterfall where we all ate lunch (which consisted of a delicious, individual lunch box with three containers of food per person). We then went for a swim (and were the only ones in our group of about 15 people). For the first time in almost two months we actually felt cold… it was fannntastic!

Finally swimming in cold water felt just like home:Just as we got out, dried off, and changed into dry clothes, the rain started. Now, before we left on the hike, we had checked the weather and it said there was a 50% chance of rain. In hindsight, because we were technically in a RAIN forest, we should have assumed it would rain, but we didn’t. So for the next hour, we trekked through the forest in an absolute downpour.

No ponchos? No problem:The rain was so heavy that the trail turned into a small river and eventually there was no other way through it but to just walk in the knee deep water, with shoes and all! We were all soaked to the bone, even those who opted for ponchos. The rest of the group was silent as we trudged through the mud and water but we were laughing and having the time of our lives. Side note: some of the footwear choices made by the people in our group were insane. One woman was wearing jeans and wedge sandals. Another guy had on leather loafers and wore a messenger bag (he looked more like he was going to a meeting at the office than a trek through the woods).

What does being dry mean?We finally made it to the “lookout” which was sadly too foggy to see out from, but beautiful nonetheless. The trek back was more high-speed because we heard thunder in the distance and the trail was getting deeper by the minute but we eventually made it back to the bus (and only had to pull off a few leeches from our feet)! It was quite the day and we were so happy to finally shower and be in dry clothes.

Enjoying the non-existent view from the top of the waterfall:That night, we were fairly sick of Vietnamese food and decided to try something different, so we went to an Indian restaurant instead and it was absolutely delicious (so much so, that we went again the next day).

The best (and biggest) naan we’ve ever had:So hungry and so happy:Our second day, we recovered from our jungle trek. We slept in, spent the afternoon playing cribbage at a coffee shop, and during the evening we walked around the streets. We spent the night calling family back home and wishing our moms a happy Mother’s Day. It was great to talk with the people we love most (and make us even more home sick). Then it was off to bed to catch a 7am bus to Phong Nha.

Also, we just have to mention the dogs at our hostel. The big guy is Tony and the little guy is Tino and we loved them (and also confirmed they had all their shots, don’t worry):Until next time!

-T&T