Hue - Traveling like the Locals

  Hue, Vietnam
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Hue was a short stop on our trip down the country - recommended by the girl setting up our trip itinerary in Hanoi. Hue has many sites to see since the emperors lived here and built their palaces and tombs in the surrounding area. They are also well known for their delectable dishes which were considered good enough to feed the king and his family. We set out to see and try as much as we could in our one day in the city.

At first we considered doing the typical group tours that were set up by the bigger companies - take a boat up the Perfume River and ride a bus to the different sites. However when we came out to eat some streetside soup noodles for breakfast we ran into a Canadian who recommended a motorcycle tour he took the day before. 

Motorcycle Tour

 The man looked trustworthy and sane enough so we decided to check it out. It was a great decision. For just $7 each we got a ride on the back of motorcycles, mine being driven by an older guy named "Bill", our guide for the day.

Bill was a Vietnamese veteran who worked with the 403rd Marines as a translator during the war. Hue is a town just south of the DMZ so it saw its fair share of fighting. It was also the first town to fall in 1975 when the North Vietnamese moved down the country to unify the country under the communist government. The royal buildings were damaged heavily in the fighting but God Bless UNESCO for stepping in to fix things up again. Because of that, the town has become a popular stop on Vietnam's "tourist trail".

Bill was a knowledgable and very entertaining tour guide. He is one you would describe as a "character" but in a good way. His language was a bit salty (using the F word quite a bit) but I blame that on the Marines he worked with during the war. They took us to a few Buddist Pagodas, Emporer's tombs and the Citadel, a huge complex that was obviously copied from the Forbidden City of the Chinese Emperors up north. 

Too Many Koi

The citadel was especially damaged during the war as it was a popular place for one side or another to hide and get some protection while the other side shelled the place.

The motorcycle riding was actually really fun. Hue is not so crowded and our drivers went slow enough. We drove through the country side and saw miles and miles of rice paddies outside the city. One side trip we took was to a small village where old ladies were playing a game as part of their Tet celebrations. It is called the Hut Game where the old ladies pay in to get a little "hut" to sit in and are given some sticks with symbols. The leader of the game draws the same sticks out of a can and the first woman to have all her sticks drawn wins a bit of money. I told Bill that it reminded me of Bingo, the American game that had the same idea. He had me repeat that a few times so he could remember it for the next tour. It is much easier to tell people "it is like Bingo" than explain all the rules. Next to that village was a Japanese style wooden bridge built in 1776. No kidding, the same year that America was founded. It was never damaged as it was far outside the city and it is still a popular place for locals to get some shade.

The city had thousands of gravestones in their cemeteries, a testament to the huge numbers of casualties they suffered during the war. The city itself had a different feel to it, though, because they had more exposure to the west earlier and longer than the north. English was spoken more, people seemed more used to tourists and people didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the communists. Bill, of course, had a few choice words to describe them, none of them I will repeat here.

People were very relieved when the country was finally opened up to the rest of the world and the tourists started coming in, bringing their cash with them. Though tourism can bring its share of problems to a country, it can also be a good way to ensure development and peace. Tourism thrives in stable and peaceful countries. If war breaks out somewhere or if crime becomes rampant, tourists stop coming. If tourism is a big income generator for a country it can be devestating. We worry about Thailand now with rebels taking hold in the south and threatening more attacks like the one on New Years Eve.

Vietnam has suffered its fair share in the last century and I think it is surreal for the old people that the country is finally at peace. We saw people in the rice fields, doing the backbreaking work of harvesting the small plants. The pay is small and I asked Bill if the people resent their small pay for such difficult work. He said "They are just happy that they have peace now and can work in peace." It made a lot of sense, even to an American girl who has never known war.