Hue city
Hue is an amazingly beautiful city - not only
does it seem to have a slower pace than other cities in Asia, but the
river right through the middle provides a centrepiece to the parks and
shady side roads. Outside of the city, amongst the hills and paddy fields,
are tombs of the previous Emperor rulers of the province, and last night
we'd negotiated a boat trip to visit one of them. A ticket in the tour
group costs just $2, but they visit half a dozen tombs, and we knew
that the girls would be less interested in yet-another-tomb, so we hired
a boat to ourselves for the morning, for $10.
After
an hour and a half boat trip, and a ride from the river bank through
the paddy fields on the back of a motorbike, we arrived at the tomb,
in the middle of nowhere. After handing over our $4 entry fee (beside
a sign that said "Foreigners $4; Vietnamese $1") we walked through the
walls and took in the beauty of the mausoleum. The Emperors in Vietnam
obviously had significant wealth and power, because this tomb has two
lakes, a river, three temples, various meeting rooms, and bedrooms for
the king, his 102 wives and his concubines (try explaining what a concubine
is to a modern child!). The building on the left is just one of over
30 buildings on the site, all reeking of wealth. The only thing missing,
in fact, from this tomb is a body! The Emperor was buried in great secrecy,
somewhere around the area, but because the 200 servants that buried
him were immediately beheaded, nobody has been able to find the body,
and as importantly the treasure buried with it.
Just
like everywhere else in Vietnam, it was the girls that turned out to
be a bit of tourist attraction themselves. Every few yards they were
slowed down by Vietnamese women, who wanted to touch and talk to them.
Although its nice for them to receive so much attention, they do find
it a bit annoying at times - especially when we're all trying to look
around ourselves.
Time
to make this diary a bit more interactive with a challenge. Here's
two pictures from the next place we went to, Thien Mu Pagoda. I'll send
a Ho Chi Minh T-shirt to the person that emails
us with the reason I took a picture of a car, and the name of the
monk.
Sorry, too late to enter
The monk in question was Thich Quang Duc, and I took a picture of the car because it is the one that carried him from Hue to Ho Chi Minh to immolate himself. The winner was the very-worthy Mike Barnes, who's now the proud owner of a Vietnam T-shirt!
After
lunch, and a sleep for Emily, we spent the late afternoon wandering
the streets, just seeing normal every day life in the city. The streets
are packed full of adults on mopeds, and school children on bicycles,
all rushing in different directions at the same time. I know I've said
it before, but it really is chaos on the roads here. When we first arrived,
an American said jokingly "Now I've been in Vietnam for two weeks, I
can cross the road without crying". It was a joke, but only just!
After
an hour and a half boat trip, and a ride from the river bank through
the paddy fields on the back of a motorbike, we arrived at the tomb,
in the middle of nowhere. After handing over our $4 entry fee (beside
a sign that said "Foreigners $4; Vietnamese $1") we walked through the
walls and took in the beauty of the mausoleum. The Emperors in Vietnam
obviously had significant wealth and power, because this tomb has two
lakes, a river, three temples, various meeting rooms, and bedrooms for
the king, his 102 wives and his concubines (try explaining what a concubine
is to a modern child!). The building on the left is just one of over
30 buildings on the site, all reeking of wealth. The only thing missing,
in fact, from this tomb is a body! The Emperor was buried in great secrecy,
somewhere around the area, but because the 200 servants that buried
him were immediately beheaded, nobody has been able to find the body,
and as importantly the treasure buried with it.Just
like everywhere else in Vietnam, it was the girls that turned out to
be a bit of tourist attraction themselves. Every few yards they were
slowed down by Vietnamese women, who wanted to touch and talk to them.
Although its nice for them to receive so much attention, they do find
it a bit annoying at times - especially when we're all trying to look
around ourselves.Time
to make this diary a bit more interactive with a challenge. Here's
two pictures from the next place we went to, Thien Mu Pagoda. I'll send
a Ho Chi Minh T-shirt to the person that emails
us with the reason I took a picture of a car, and the name of the
monk. Sorry, too late to enter
The monk in question was Thich Quang Duc, and I took a picture of the car because it is the one that carried him from Hue to Ho Chi Minh to immolate himself. The winner was the very-worthy Mike Barnes, who's now the proud owner of a Vietnam T-shirt!
After
lunch, and a sleep for Emily, we spent the late afternoon wandering
the streets, just seeing normal every day life in the city. The streets
are packed full of adults on mopeds, and school children on bicycles,
all rushing in different directions at the same time. I know I've said
it before, but it really is chaos on the roads here. When we first arrived,
an American said jokingly "Now I've been in Vietnam for two weeks, I
can cross the road without crying". It was a joke, but only just!