World Vietnam Hue

David and Natalya's Around the World Tours David and Natalya's One Year Trip Through Asia

Hue, Vietnam May 13, 2005

May 12-15, 2005

Hue, Vietnam

Natalya

After 6 long days of waiting for our visa extensions we were so glad to leave Hanoi. We booked a private 4 passenger train berth and before we knew it we were heading south to Hue on the overnight train. The overnight train was great - it was easy to fall asleep yet easy to wake up a few minutes before sunrise and catch a glimpse of the Vietnamese sun shining onto the fields, to see farmers making their way to work on their bicycles and to see the crops being harvested.

We arrived in Hue in the morning and headed straight to our hotel. We paid only $30 for our room and it was great. White cotton sheets were crisp and clean, the bathroom was very nice and the rooftop pool was cool and relaxing.

Hue is a town full of history. You can see anything from emperor's palaces and Buddhist temples to old tanks and elaborate tunnels used during the Vietnam war.

We found a great cafe/travel agency called the Stop and Go Café run by a former lieutenant from the South Vietnamese army. He fought alongside the Americans and after the war, job prospects for him were very glim. His Café survives by making it through every Lonely Planet edition. He offers great tours of Hue and of the DMZ (demilitarized zone). We booked his motorbike tour of the city and it was interesting and lots of fun. It was my first time on the motorbike and at first I was a little bit concerned if I would be able to keep my balance. After just a few minutes my driver was whisking me away through Hue's countryside. We passed through a few villages where we saw children heading home from school and women and men working to prepare hay for their water buffalo. Later on we headed towards the farmers fields where crops were being harvested and the soil was being burned to prepare it for the next season. We drove right through smoke blowing across the road and I was happy that the motorbike was fast. A few minutes later we stopped beside an old bridge built a few hundreds years ago. The bridge was full of locals resting on each side cooling off. It was a very hot day yet on the bridge it was cool and breezy.

After the bridge we went to visit 5 or 6 other local attractions. We visited the tiger-elephant fighting ring. It was really neat. It was very large, probably 30 meters in diameter. It had many gates - smaller ones for the tigers and larger ones for the elephant. The emperor and his wives would sit on top of one of the platforms and watch the spectacle. Elephants always won because the tiger's teeth were secretly removed prior to the event since the Tiger was considered a symbol of the enemy therefore it should never win.

The Buddhist tower was also very interesting and picturesque. The tower had 7 levels because seven is considered a lucky number in Buddhist cultures. On top of the tower was a large statue of Buddha. Originally there was a solid gold statue, which was stolen many years ago and has not reappeared anywhere since.