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Hue
Entry 15 of 24 | show all | print this entry |
I LOVE VIETNAMESE COFFEE, GO FLY A KITE, and PROOF ONCE AND FOR ALL - KHE SANH IS BULLSHIT
Found a great French cafe for breakfast and decide to go the whole hog. I think I've lost weight, which isn't surprising due to the heat and humidity, constant exercise and well lets face it, regular dose of the dodgy tum tums.
I truely love Vietnamese coffee. They give you a little dripper, which sits over your glass and gradually pour down thick brown gold. When you ask for milk they bring you condensed milk, so its wickedly sweet. Fattening - I can only hope so.
The trip to the airport is across the Red River, which actually has a red glow to it. The flight was relatively uneventful, and I was delivered to the correct place in Hue city (pronounced H-WAY). I have learned to be a tougher negotiator, pushing them down from AUD$22.50 to AUD$15 a night. Harsh bugger aren't I.
I took a Cyclo (three wheel bike where you sit at the front and the bloke at the back pedals you around) as its impossible not to when you are bombarded with them every step of the way, to the Forbidden Purple City in Hue's older Citadel section. Most of the Forbidden City was destroyed in the French War, and some in the American War (what we call the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese call the American War). Those buildings that weren't destroyed are beautiful, with some recreated (though they do look a little new and kind of spoil it). The remaining buildings are from the 1800's when the Vietnamese
Emperor's were in Hue.
Outside the gate is an enormous flagpole and square. As it was late
afternoon, the square was filled with adults and kids all flying kites. It was a great sight - hundreds of kites and smiling faces. All of the kids wanted to be photographed so I had to take some fakes shots (where you pretend to press the button) otherwise I would have had two rolls worth of the same thing.
I wandered back to the hotel down the Perfume River and past the ice cream sellers (like I got past the first one without buying, right...). Afterwards I headed out for Vietnamese noodles and rice paper rolls. The restaurant also had a small tour business on the side.
I decided to book a tour of the DMZ - the 'Demilitarized Zone' between the old North and South. The waiter/tour guide tells me that the bus tours to the rather contraversial DMZ are actually Government run, but they also run private motorbike tours. As I'm not keen to clutch onto a local doing 60kph up the highway for 150km, I decide to do the half day bus tour.
He sat down for a chat. As it turns out he was a Lieutenant in the South Vietnamese Army. After the War he was imprisoned for two years
because he was an officer. Some of his friends got 12 years, so he was lucky. He took delight in telling me that during the War some American GI's took him to Sydney, where he saw the Harbour Bridge. He also told me he met Bob Hope when he was here during the War. He also told me that certain aspects of the Government run bus tours were fake - the full day tour takes you to the Ho Chi Minh trail, and where they take you actually isn't the trail. He also said that the trip to the base at Khe Sanh isn't true as there's nothing there. "Its bullshee" he said, struggling with the T....
Proof once and for all that a generation of Australian mullet wearing Chisel fans had it wrong. Its confirmed by someone who is in the know - Khe Sanh is bullshit.
STORMY STOMACHE AGAIN, DUCKS IN BAGS and RUST BUCKET BICYCLE
Its Friday the 13th..... and someone is running around in my stomache with an ice-hockey mask and a chainsaw. Unfortunately it means I'll miss the tour of the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) and blow my AUD$7.50 fee. Outrageous.
I changed to a smaller room in my hotel (which was a condition of my
discount so thats ok) and later on in the morning (when the internal storm had passed) I headed down to Hue's market area, Dong Ba. You name it, they have it - from diaries to dried-squid to ducks....
The ducks didn't make pleasant viewing - they are taken out of small cages (where there are dozens of others squished in) alive and put into shopping bags. Hence you see local women walking down the street with a bag of green vegetables in one arm, and a bag with three live ducks in the other, their heads poking out and quacking between the bagstraps. That was marginally better than the offal tables, which were beyond description. The vegie sellers made for better photos.
Three local girls started talking to me saying they have a beauty salon at the market. Next thing I know is I'm getting the number one clipper again, or as they called it "The Buddha Cut". They started on the "are you single, you are very handsome and tall" routine - when I explained that I had a partner at home, they immediately said "oh, I have a sister that owns a clothing stall, you can buy your girlfriend a present!". Hence I was in a no win situation - take home a wife or take home a present for Danielle!!
I also bought a new day pack as the other one has now bitten the dust, probably because I pack too much in. It is difficult to bargain fully in Vietnam, as there is a "local price" and a "tourist price" for most things. Entry to monuments is usually five times higher.... bottled water is somewhere near 50% higher.... and I'm sure for day packs its about the same. The other day I got charged 5000 Dong for a packet of chewing gum, even though it clearly states 2000 on the pack, and a local bought one for 2000 mere seconds before I tried to.
I picked up my third pair of sunglasses for the trip (one lost in the fall, one broken as they hit the floor in a restaurant) at the market, while dodging the beggers. Its very strange - these aren't your normal run-of-the-mill beggers who are handicapped on streets.... shoppers stop what they are doing (usually arguing over the price of fruit) and walk up to you and take off their hats and shove them at you, expecting you to put in some dosh.
I also got hassled to pay 1000 Dong to be weighed. Nothing to lose so I've given it a go - I've lost 4kgs on the trip. Jenny Craig should send her clients to Vietnam....
As my stomache had somewhat improved, I decided to head of to one of the Tombs located outside of Hue. Scattered around the countryside are various tombs made for previously departed Emperor's of Vietnam from the 1800's and early 1900's. I decided to hire a bike from a nearby shop for the trip.
The equivalent of 50 cents would get me a bike for about 3 hours. I told them I'd make it 60 cents if they gave me the best bike they had. Thank goodness I did - if this was the best, god help me with the worst. It was a hybrid bike - that doesn't mean part racer, part mountain bike. Hybrid over here means part Penny Farthing part rusted out '73 Ford Escort with no engine. This had 3 gears ('three on the floor and a whole lot more....') but virtually no brakes.
I was riding through town on the right hand side of the road (the correct side in Vietnam) when I needed to make a left hand turn - doh, too hard! Hence I've gone straight and I'm on a bridge crossing the river.... change of plan, I'm now off to Thien Mu Pagoda on the north side of Hue. The ride there (approx 4km out of town) was entertaining, through the backblocks of Hue beside the Perfume River.
I arrived at the Pagoda and parked my bike with the attendent. That cost me 40 cents - in Vietnam it costs just as much to get things back in one piece, as it does to get them in the first place. The pagoda was ok without being exceptional, although the view up the river was rather nice.
On the way back towards town I found a skinny train bridge, so I skedaddled across that and headed out towards Tu Duc Tomb, which is 10km out of town. Riding past houses and rice paddies, I was a hit with the locals... maybe it was the red 3/4 shorts, or the fact that there aren't many 6'1" westerners on rusty bicycle's in the Vietnamese countryside, but I was a hit. "Hello! Hello!" was shouted at me every thirty seconds or so. They especially loved a response in the local language, which made them laugh even more.
It was a long ride on a dodgy bike (if only I had the yellow Giant racer sitting in the shed at home), but it was good fun. There were many rolling hills, with gravestones that went on forever into the distance. The hills aren't alive it seems.... I found Tu Duc tomb with the help of some roadside workers who pointed me in the correct direction. Another 40 cents deposit for the return of the bike, and I wandered in. It was about 5pm so great timing for pre-sunset photos.
The ride home was just as good ("Hello! Hello!") until I reached THE major intersection in Hue. Imagine Camberwell Junction. Now triple its size and take out the traffic lights. Bikes, trucks, motorbikes, cars, the lot running through all at once. As the bicycle is somewhere near the cockroach on the Vietnam roadways food-chain, I gave way to everyone I could see and rolled into town to return the bike. The shop was amazed at the distance I had travelled - they may well enter me into next year's Tour De Vietnam.
I finished off the day at a restaurant that had unobtrusive local
traditional singing and music. All was going well until they finished with that well-known Vietnamese classic, "Auld Lang Syne". Oh well, it could have been worse - it could have been Foreigner.
THE DMZ TOUR, "HELLO BECKHAM" and "PEOPLE WITH NO HAIR LIVE LONGER"
Up again at 5.40am, this time to make it onto the tour. As per Mr "Khe-Sanh is Bullshee"'s comment, the bus tour to the DMZ is Government run. Hence that means the tour guides are useless. We arrived at what is the frame of a church (basically an old church with blown out roof, machine gun bullet holes through the walls) to be told we have five minutes here, with no explanation about its significence.
Back in the bus, and ten minutes later we are at the former site of Doc Meiu base. Prior to leaving, the US Troops blew the living bejeezus out of everything they owned, so it couldn't be used in any Vietnamese propaganda films. Hence all that is there is a small bullet-holed building, the remnants of a US tank that had been shipped in from elsewhere, and many a hole in the ground from explosions 30 years prior. "Five minutes" we were told. A few people (including a US Vietnam Vet) took off at great speed into the bush to see what they could see.... I didn't think that was a good idea considering I understand 5,000 people have been killed or injured since the war finished, due to old mines in the area.
I ended up speaking to the US Vet. It was his first time back since his 12 months here in 1972 (including 2 months at the base we visited). He said it was the full wave of emotions going down roads that they used to have to mine-sweep every morning. Hence he was constantly on edge expecting something to happen, and had really only slept properly once in the two weeks he'd been there. He did say one thing which I noted - "in the end war is one of the dumbest things humans can do... the thought of trying to kill someone you don't know is just crazy."
Next stop was the Ben Hai River crossing - the old border between North and South. Now it was a river surrounded by rice paddies - back then it was 5km of moonscape land that had been bombed mad. We got to stop at a monument for the Communists on the north side, to be told we were there for 20 minutes! Oh thats right, its a Government run tour.... 5 minutes at the good bits and 20 minutes at the monument.
We then headed to the Vinh Moc tunnels, which is 1700m of (23m) underground tunnels. They are only 160cm high and not designed for a tall skinny fella. About 300 people lived in here during the war as above ground was obliterated with constant carpet bombing. Its a scary place - electricity and lights are now connected thankfully so you can see where you are going.
Most people continued on to the "bullshee" parts, but 8 of us on the half day tour were to head back to Hue. Vietnam and for that matter the Vietnamese people are great, but on occasions they do the odd thing that drives you batty. Today it was squeeze the 8 of us, a driver, and 6 locals into a ten seater minibus for the drive back.
After a cool down back at the hotel, I headed to the Hue Military Museum. Getting all the war stuff over and done with in one day.... the military propaganda was priceless. I did love the references to the old South Vietnamese Government, which they called "The Pupper Government". On the walk back I passed kids playing soccer everywhere - they yell out "Hello Beckham!" when they see a foreigner.
On the walk back from dinner, some waitresses tried to wave me into a restaurant to eat. After explaining to them that I'd already eaten they waved and laughed, and one yelled out in perfect English "people with no hair live longer". I thought that was a nice way to close the day.
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MORE TOMBS, MORE DODGY BIKES and SOLD UP THE RIVER
I decided to go visiting some more tombs further away from Hue - the tomb of
Minh Mang, which is about 12km out of town. So it was back to the hire place
to see what "the best" bike they had today was like. This time it was AUD$1
for the full day, and this time I asked for one where the brakes worked.
That meant that I had to forego gears (the one the other day had 3!) but at
least I could stop when required. This one actually reminded me of my first
ever bike - sans the Banana seat and spokie dokies. And this too (like the
other day) looked like they'd purchase it from Rust-o-rama Bicycles.
I rode out of town and into the rice paddied country side, today's ride
being in a slightly different direction to the other day. The 12km ride took
an hour... for those cyclists out there thinking "man thats slow" (hi Steve)
if I'd brought my Cat Eye speedo it would have shown a maximum of 15kph on
the downhill on this heap, so a one hour trip was a good result.
For the last 4km of the journey I was joined by a local woman on a
motorbike, with her son on the back. She asked the usual questions - "where
are you from, how old are you, do you have a girlfriend". Then they respond
to the questions themselves. Yes, someone tried to pick me up on a country
road in Vietnam. In the end she was quite helpful as I nearly took a wrong
turn, and she led me down to where the boats are for the short trip across
the river to the tombs. I left the bike for the princely sum of 20 cents,
with the promise of 20 cents more upon my return.... the little kid who I
left it with looked pretty happy with the deal, as he only wanted 10 cents.
The tombs contain rather ornate buildings, and are surrounded by lily ponds.
Apparently prior to dying the old emperor's used to tell the Mandarins (the
high ranking official kind, not the orange fruity thang) where they wanted
their tomb and what they wanted it took look like. Old Minh Mang must have
been a smart-arse for telling them to build it this far out of town....
After the short boat ride back to the other side, I commenced my ride home.
Three minutes in and an almighty storm came from nowhere. I pulled over into
a small drink stall and sat it out. This was not part of the plan. As it
turned out the drink stall was also linked to a boating service, so for $4 I
was told I could get an (undercover) boat ride back to Hue on the Perfume
River. A deal too good to refuse as the driving rain, and the lightening and
thunder blanketed the area.
I wait 40 minutes for the boat to leave, with about 10 others onboard - we
then head in the opposite direction and all ten get out back at the tombs. I
then hear the boat lady say "40 minutes here". Doh! I've been dodgied on the
deal - by this stage the weather had cleared up. Basically I'm back where I
started waiting another 40 minutes prior to the trip home. I had a snoozy
time waiting and then we chugged up the river back to Hue. The boat ride
took 90 minutes - slower than the bike ride! Some English couples on board
think I was mad in the first place to ride out that far. I told them they
were mad not to bring a bike as you always need a backup plan in Vietnam.
An early dinner of rice paper rolls and stirfry, followed by a walk across
the bridge and back to the Citadel area at night, with a few photos as some
of the buildings are lit up. In the main square area near the giant
flagpole, kids and families are all playing soccer and hanging around. They
all want a chat and have their photo taken. I feel like a celebrity -
again....
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