We found ourselves a cozy hotel for $5 a night and it even included breakfast! We decided it was time for a much needed relax day on our first day in Hue. On our second day we rented a motor bike to explore around town a bit. Some of the main tourist attractions are the famous tombs that are spread out along the country side. With the motor bike, we were able to cover a little more distance that with public transportation or a tour, so we were able to visit two.

We really enjoy cruising around on motor bikes, so we decided to just drive around in whatever direction seemed most interesting. We ended up in one of the most scenic rice fields with the perfect lighting. The sun beamed through the clouds leaving trails of sunlight piercing down across the horizon of green. We watched as people tended the fields in amazement as rice fields stretched as far as we could see. In one of the water channels along the road we saw a couple running nearly a thousand Peking ducks to a new location. Loud quacking noises filled the air as a sea of ducks forming what seemed like one large white blanket waddled past us. Heading back to town we decided to call it an early night before our all day scooter ride from Hue to Hoi An the following morning.

Our plan was to grab a sandwich and head back to our hotel to rest up. One thing Marge and I have learned is plans when traveling are always changing. Two locals invited us to join them at their table to eat our sandwiches and ordered 4 beers before we could answer. There was a huge language barrier between all of us. Marge and I could speak maybe 8 words of Vietnamese and they could speak about 50 words of English (not full sentences). Before we knew it, they ordered another round of beer, and another, and another. In the confusion of the language barrier, we thought that they were saying “Beer Laos” every time they ordered a beer. We thought this was funny because Beer Laos is a brand of beer from back in Laos! So Marge and I kept repeating it when they ordered a new beer. Apparently, Beer Laos doesn’t mean another beer in Vietnamese and before we knew it the two locals picked up the whole tab and waived us into a cab to take us to….a Loas restaurant across town that served Beer Loas of course. After a few more beers and attempts at conversation I began getting the drunk munchies. I chowed down on what was in front of me which happened to be a bowl of pig intestines. Not my finest drunk munchie moment, but at least it wasn’t like the bowl of crickets I ate while drinking in Cambodia.

After Beer Loas and Beer Loas and more Beer Loas, Marge and I tried to pick up the tab and our new friends had already taken care of it. They swooped us into another cab before we knew it. When we got to the third bar, the waitress immediately brought a FULL tray of beer to the table. I looked at Marge who looked as panicked as I felt. We had already drank more than we needed, especially since we had to be up early! Khan said something to the waitress we couldn’t understand and she took the tray away. Marge and I were so relieved…that was until she returned with an entire case of beer and stacked all 24 cans on the table in front of the 4 of us. I looked at Marge with my jaw dropped and said “Holy shit, what are we going do?” After forcing a few more down as not to offend our new friends, it was time to leave and the waitress collected the remaining beer (thank god). Following our last cab ride, our friends tried to get us to come home with them. This was where we had to say no. We had an all-day motor bike ride down the coast early the next day so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. We pulled up to our hotel, the cab driver said the fare had already had been paid. I couldn’t believe it. Two locals who couldn’t even hold a full conversation with us had just treated us for the entire night and seemed to be offended when we tried to pay. The longer I am in Vietnam, the more confident I am in saying that Vietnamese people are the friendliest we have come across this year.