Blogs from North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 95

Hey all, I'm leaving Hue today so I'm posting some pictures for you guys. Hue has been awesome - too short a stay, as usual, but really good time while I've been here. Yesterday we hired a boat for a ride down the "perfume" river and a look at some of the sights along the river - most of the pictures are from the boat. The actual boat ride was nice, but I'm getting pretty sick of looking at old tombs and temples, etc, so we only stopped at a few places and just enjoyed the river ride for the rest of the day. The Citadel was definitely the highlight of the day - they let you (or don't stop you when you do) climb inside American tanks. I've never been inside a tank, so that ... read more

Though we loved Hoi An we did have to keep moving and so we headed for Hué. The ride here was once again a real feast for the eye with imposing mountains, still bays and paddyfields as far as the eye could see. Arriving here we quickly checked into a place with a fan and a private balcony and took refuge from the heat. Set on the Perfume River (named for the lillies and lotuses that used to line its banks), the ancient Imperial City of the Nguyen Dynasty and the Tombs of its Kings dominate the North side, Hué is a laid back City set in beautiful countryside. The highlight of our stay here was a motorcycle tour we took with two great guys, Minh and Thu. Whilst zooming along we saw stunning vistas of ... read more

Hue is an interesting city, with the Perfume River neatly disecting the city and as the former capitol of the counrty, the heart of the city surrounded by a defensive fortifation consisting of an enormous brick wall that runs a total of 6 miles around. On top of all this, is a fortified citadel is a walled off area within the walled of area that encloses several acres. All in all, the city provides ample fair for just nosing about. On my first day spent my time wandering the streets and poking around some fairly interesting museums. The following day, on the recommendation of some friends, I bought a ticket to the citadel. The city of Hue was fiercly contested in the Vietnam War, and as a result of the heavy bombing a large part of ... read more

Breakfast at Son Xanh Blue River Restaurant. There were two guys there who were already drinking beer at 7AM! Then we got a bus to Hue, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Stopped at Marble Mountain along the way. There is a cave there, but we didn’t feel like paying the admission fee and racing up to the cave and back to the bus in 15 minutes. The bus stopped right in front of Phu An Hotel and there were touts that got on the bus to drum up business. The place was nice, so we stayed. We had lunch at Omar Khayyam’s Indian Restaurant. Then we walked to The Citadel and toured the Forbidden Purple City, which follows the same layout as the Forbidden City in Beijing. Much of the Purple City was ... read more

Bikes are still important in Vietnam. However, the motorbike has taken the lead as the most numerous and popular mode of transport. I think they are also a big problem in Vietnam. They are noisy, belch out much smoke, driven to fast and in the big cities have made the environment so bad I can’t imagine living there all the time. Some governments in Vietnam have banned the trucks in big cities during part of the day. Some are thinking about banning cyclos. That is the bicycle with two wheels up-front with a small seat between the wheels and the driver sits high in the back peddling his customer around. They have provided much charm to Vietnam and have been a good mode of transportation for almost a hundred years. I think the governments thinking about ... read more