Vietnam – Hue

Dangerous driving

After arriving in hue I had a few drinks with some people I met on the train. We met up for a pre diner drink, which ended at 1 in the morning. During that time we hi-jacked a cyclo (paying for the privilege), these are the pushbikes with a seat at the front for passengers. the other guy had a go, who did quite well, with me as a passenger doing a small loop in the street. Myself, not so good. the bike had no breaks, the peddles just drove the wheels, so to slow down you had to resist the pedals. Also it was hard to turn, with a crap turning circle, during my small ride I had an annoyed driver behind me as I tried to do a turn in the street (think Austin Powers). I then went down another street and decided to open her up, and tried to go faster. Unfortunately I slipped off the pedal, the bike lurched to the left into the path of an oncoming moped, who had to swerve out of the way. I was a little scared, but I think the bloke at the front must have nearly shit himself as we swerved into oncoming traffic as he had no control and was at the front. We gave it back after that.

Ill

Oh dear. I’m booked on to a 8 hr tour today, and last night was not very kind. Unfortunately I think the the alcohol is only part of it, as the meal I had seemed a little, odd. Feeling like death or not, off we go! Hue was once the Imperial capital of Vietnam when it was rule by Emperors. A big part of the centre of Hue is a walled City with the Citadel and the Emperors’ palaces. (War. Bombed. not lot left.)  We also went to see some of the old Emperors’ tombs, the first looked very classic, very peaceful, a very loved emperor, and he also loved back. he had over 40 ‘official’ wives, over 100 concubines, 400 children and reportedly got 5 women pregnant in one night! You can buy his tonic, said to help him achieve this feat from the sellers at the tomb. The next, Tomb was built on a hill, more modern and very over the top. The inside of the tomb was completely over the top, with ceramics and intricate works all over the wall. Also the roof was painted by by foot, the artist not daring to use his hands. Alas this Emperor , had 1 ‘official’ wife, 1 child and no concubines. Well, no female ones anyway. The last tomb and the boat trip back, I just wanted to go to sleep. Finally getting back, I lay in the room watching TV with the air-con on. Leaving the room to find food, all I managed was to swear at a lot of people who were hassling me, so just went back to the room, and hid away from the word, feeling rubbish.

13hrs

The next day was not much better. I did managed to get a bike for a few hours, then it was back hiding in the room. The next day, I had a 13 hr train journey. This was ok, a little manic at times, after 10hrs I realised I’d been in the wrong seat all this time (actually I was ‘told’ and had to move an old lady out of my seat!). I was also told off by another lady for playing on my Game Boy too much! I did managed to have some of the train food, which was very good (UK train companies take note!), even watched some TV! (You don’t need to understand it to work out what is going on….) The scenery on the journey was stunning. endless rice fields, more Limestone blocks looking like they had been dropped from the sky jutting out the ground, but finally the buildings built up, the traffic outside got manic, and we finally pulled into the Station at Hanoi.