Gone from Saigon -- headed far, far a Hue

Sorry for the bad pun :) We are in Hue now (pronounced "whay") -- a city famous for its poets, scholars, and emporers. Hue sits more or less at the halfway point between Saigon and Hanoi. Since we are on a short holiday (unlike nearly all the Europeans we've met, who are travelling for a month or two or more), we hopped a flight rather than taking the train or open bus here. The down time before the flight gave us a chance to see a few more sights in Ho Chi Minh City before we left. Somehow we found the same cycle driver we had the other day (or he found us..... hmmmm.............???) and so cruised the city at the breakneck speed of, well, as fast as a 58 year old guy can pedal an aging bike with a buggy and tourist attached. Hue is beautiful at night (which is all we've seen of it, really). Huge old stone structures rising like palaces, waterways lit to reflect back on the stone walls of the canals, giant courtyards in front of the Citadel, and wide tree-lined walkways stretching the length of the many waterfronts throughout the Imperial City. Moats, small lakes and the Perfume River define the layout of the streets in the area, and at night locals come in hoards to walk along the water, play "futbol" in the courtyards, and cruise the streets on Honda oms and bicylces. The whole fortress area is probably 4000 meters across, and every bit of it seems pleasantly alive, and very romantic as far as cities go. (Of course, sitting on a slab of rock along a river bank somewhere, listening to water lapping on PVC, the smell of wet gear wafting through the air is also just as romantic, depending on your perspective.) So...while we aren't exactly city folk, we are loving every minute of it here. Well...OK. Almost every minute of it. But first I have to tell you about our hike today. It starts off with a conversation that went something like this: Waiter: "Where you go today?" Me: "To Bach Ma" Waiter: "Ba ca?" Me: "Oh! Ba Ca." I said it very carefully, so as to get it right this time. Waiter: "Ba ca?" Me: "Yes, Ba Ca." Waiter: "Ba private ca?" Me: "Huh?" (intelligence dropping by the minute) Waiter: "You go by private ca?" OH! ding ding ding! Me: "Yes, by private car!" Waiter: "Ba private ca to Bach Ma?" Me: "Yes.....I think so......." So off we went, ba private ca, to Bach Ma National Park, a huge ecological preserve marking the biggest green space of its kind between Laos and the coast. The mountains there reach up to 1700 meters, and we drove up to nearly 1500m before starting our first hike. The single-lane road was crazy narrow and windy, with hillsides nearly vertical on both sides of the road. Road crews were busy repairing washouts from the nearly 8 meters (8 METERS!) of rain they get there every year. And we thought Washington was wet. At the top we picked our way through a trail overgrowing with vines, bamboo, and tall grasses, out toward a former helicopter landing area (the whole terrain was a heavy combat area during the American war). Losing the trail, and afraid of losing ourselves, we turned back for the main trail. Andy scampered up and around the corner while I stopped to look at an inchworm that was cruising at breakneck speed (at least as fast as that 58 yr old cyclo driver) toward my foot. I couldn't believe how efficiently he was moving -- tail to head, then stretching out and repeating the whole thing over again, quick inch by inch, as if rushing off somewhere. But why toward me? That was weird. Then I noticed my shoes. And my socks. And somewhere in the back of my brain I could feel it dawn, the gears of consciousness struggling to awaken... Oh my god. Leeches. LEECHES. "Andy!" ........no answer. My feet and ankles are covered in leeches......Breathe. Breathe. MY FEET AND ANKLES ARE COVERED IN LEECHES. Heart pounding. "ANDY!!!!" ......still no answer. ""AAAANDDYYY!!!!" YYYucccckkkkkk! Andy never did hear me (off taking pictures of course!) and I had to act like a grown up and reign in the panic and get the damn things off. UGgggh. In truth they never did stick directly to my skin long enough to really attach, but they were burrowing in the lace holes and every other crevice on my boots, suctioned to my socks (how they do I don't know), climbing ever higher by the second. Holy cow. There is no caffeine rush quite equivalent to the adrenaline rush I got from the sight of them squirming all over my lower extremities. While I never had another incident quite so bad, I continued to find a close cousin, leechus imaginarius (purely the product of an overactive mind and poor vision) on my toes, ankles and legs throughout the rest of the day. All that aide, it really was a good day, and a beautiful park. Incredibly steep hillsides just covered in jungle forest, dropping away to rice paddies and the lagoon far below. We hiked along a waterfall trail with several deep, emerald green pools perfect for swimming. :) And yes, we did. We heard all sorts of insects with little tiny chainsaws (I swear that's what it sounds like), and a number of striking bird calls, including one who would consistently answer Andy's immitation gibbon call. And, we think we actually heard two gibbons calling back and forth, but couldn't be sure since the forest was so thick, and because, well, we aren't entirely sure what gibbons sound like. (Maybe they sound like Andy.) Anyway -- back at the hotel in Hue now, three fruit smoothies, a Hue mushroom-shrimp-sprout pancake, and a plate of squid later. We topped off the evening with a serious study session on American culture with a local waiter who is studying to become an English teacher. He was preparing for his final exam, and had all sorts of questions he was having trouble finding the answer to: everything from who walks down the aisle immediately before the bride to what the beliefs of Martin Luther King and Malcomb X were. Interesting stuff, it is, to look at "American culture" as a topic of study. Not sure if we successfully explained "Keeping up with the Jones'". Tam-bi-uht from Hue!