Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2005
Hello All (Ken writing)
Despite the fact that we bought almost all of Chiang Mai and so had heavy luggage, we arrived in Vietnam last night into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Stayed the night and then got up at 5:30 AM for a short flight to the city of Hue further up the coast.
Last night's supper made for some comical video taping of our desserts (which included lychees, some form of taro/potato, vietnamese fruit, etc.) Very interesting. No matter how little we took from the buffet the lady always piled on more.
We have found a nice guesthouse here in Hue and rented some bikes (very high-end - almost like my mom's old Glider - but no back pedal brakes). We proceeded to conquer the crazy traffic of Hue where lanes are a suggestion and honking is a complex form of communication. Basically if you're on a bike you get way over to the right and try to stay out of the way.
We took our new hi-tech bikes and cycled to nearby Thien Mu Pagoda where we were excitedly greeted by some vietnamese guy with an arm band and a whistle. Apparently in Hue there is bicycle parking lots and you get to pay the nice man with the arm band to "watch" your bike for you. What a deal, but since you don't have a choice in the manner we parted with a small bit of dong (currency) and puttered around the pagoda. The most interesting part was the car (Austin circa 1960's) that a monk had driven to Saigon to protest the treatment of Buddhists during the 60's. He did this by lighting himself on fire and burning himself to death.
To further experience the hospitality of the man with the armband we decided to have lunch at the small diner next to the parking lot (grass spot) and have our second round of noodles (since arriving). It was fairly interesting, good tasting, but the meat was more or less flavored fat. Needless to say we took the vegetarian route and fed a few piecesofthe fat to the local mooch dog, who seemed very appreciative.
During our bike back we encountered our first "english student". It is quite common to have people in Thailand and Vietnam come up to you with a big smile and ask "Where are you from?" "What is your name?" followed by .."and..." and another question. I was victim number 1 when a telephone repair guy on a moped sidled up to me while riding and proceeded with..the English Inquisition. Needless to say between us the conversation was somewhat painful since my Vietnamese is horrible, his english was fairly good. Caroline wisely dropped back a few 100 metres while I tutored. Somehow I ditched Mr. Phone and then we ran into 2 young girls who wanted to play the same game. Of course with the girls, the questions ended up being more giggly :
Pointing at Caroline - she is beautiful no? (the french roots of language are there) - Yes she is
Pointing at Caroline - do you love her?
Yes
Me Pointing at Caroline - we aregetting married in June.
Massive giggling and smiles and clapping.
Them Pointing to Caroline making baby sign language (oh ya, now i'm in trouble).
No - no baby yet. Frown in response and giggle. Yikes, cheque please!
We ended the morning looking at the Citadel, Imperial Palace and the Forbidden Purple City (which is basically a pile of rubble since it was destroyed in WWII). Another bike parking lot fee and have zipped back to our hotel. Its off to Hoi An tomorrow and then to the island of Phu Quoc (near Cambodia) for some beach/dive time.
Chao tam biet! (Goodbye in Vietnamese)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0322s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
hey sunshines, glad to hear that you managed to rape and pillage your way thru chiang mai...stand by, as the fun is really going to begin in hoi an...and this is the best thing...while you're waiting for your clothes to be tailored...you can go get cheap manicures/pedicures, etc. well worth it! have fun! nicks - nickers