Before 1945 Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam's last dynasty - that of the difficult-to-pronounce Nguyễn family - who sat on the throne until French colonisation and world wars whittled down their empire.
Not to be beaten down, the city has since expanded enthusiastically into a lively place with tourists and Vietnamese alike lining roadside cafes on tiny plastic stools drinking a coffee and a beer or five. There are more local delicacies than one should really sample in a couple of days without having packed some elastic maternity trousers. A personal favourite is not a dish but chewy cane sugar sweets full of peanuts and coated in sesame seeds called "Kẹo mè xửng Huế".
The original Nguyễn citadel still remains here with all the hallmarks of a good empire - large walls and a fearsome moat, but nowadays these only protect a few noodle soup shops. Somewhat akin to a Russian doll, the old citadel contains another city called the "Imperial City", although the term "city" makes it sound considerably larger than it really is. It has its own walls and a moat and even some lizards in the shrubberies, but there is no noodle soup inside - instead there stands a palace, temples and examination halls (where cheating was probably much harder than in the local sports hall). And inside this city there is yet another city - the brilliantly named "Forbidden City" where we were allowed to freely wander. This really isn't a city, and doesn't even have a moat, but was once full of the emperor's favourite eunuchs, courtesans and jesters.
We had a great few days of culture and cuisine, even though the weather is quite English in that a scorching day will be followed by a drizzly miserable one without much warning.
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| Cyclo Siestas, Hue Sweets, Fearsome Moats |
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| Imperial Architecture and the Dragon Horse |
Day 33 - Hue to Dong Ha (70km pretty much flat)
The ride today took us to Dong Ha which is on the border of the demilitarised zone where the country was divided between north and south for both the Indochina and Vietnam war. The area has a number of key bridges and bases from the war, and to the west of our route were the Vinh Moc Tunnels where an entire village lived for two and a half years 30 meters underground to avoid American bombers. Unfortunately we were unable to visit the tunnels because the weather turned unsavoury, but we were encouraged to meet another bicycle tourer (the first we'd seen in Vietnam!) braving the wet too.
As usual, on the road, we had a smattering of amusing run-ins with locals probably unused to seeing strange foreign people. While stopping for water, a flower arranger without even looking at us walked over, put an elastic band on my handlebars and walked off into a nearby building. Hopefully this wasn't some sort of modern curse, but I took it as an incredibly meaningful gesture and the took the band all the way to Hanoi (this blog is written in retrospect)! She meekly looked out the doorway as we rode off so we gave a cheery wave. Hope she didn't need the band for anything...
Personal space is something of an alien concept in Vietnam, and we are a little more used to being prodded and having our belongings closely inspected - but when paying for dinner, the chef grabbed Kath's purse, counted the money and then gave it back with a nod of something like approval. Definitely a weird moment.
Day 34 - Dong Ha to Dong Hoi (112km of hilliness)
We went the indirect route today so we could use the Ho Chi Minh highway; used by the North Vietnamese for troop movement during the war - but now just a smooth hilly forest road dotted with little temples. It was pretty in a very Welsh way, in that it was wet, and although the hills were not too steep the weather got decidedly stormier as the day grew on until downhill stretches were even a slog because of the strong headwind. The morning noodles were the hottest and tastiest ever, but back on the road we got soaked to the bone and really cold when we stopped for a late morning coffee and so skipped lunch to try and push on.
A bunch of kids donned in oversized ponchos raced us for a fair few miles - until we won because they weren't going as far as us. Hah.
We were real hungry by late afternoon so when we were heralded to a steamed corn on the cob shack we were in no state to decline. They kindly informed us we would get there faster on a motorbike and asked usual things about our route and maritial status, and also asked something with weird gestures potentially regarding height to which I showed them that I am as high as I am high. Not sure if that was conveyed. They refused money for the corn, shook hands and bid us farewell. Heartwarming.
But not actually warming, so when we got lost on the backroads trying to get into Dong Hoi - getting the tablet out for a GPS fix for the sixth time - we were really very tired and ready for a hot shower. Finally arriving, our hotel owner was notably dismayed at how much of the muddy road we had collected on ourselves but reluctantly let us stay the night. The hot shower was very good.
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| Racing Kids, Getting Wet, Eating Corn |
Days 35 to 36 - Dong Hoi
Dong Hoi is a small town by the sea with a bombed cathedral ruin, a bridge over the esturary that shines at night like a Jean Michel Jarre concert and some great seafood.
The main draw, though, is up the road in the limestone hills of the Phong Nha Ke Bang national park - where we were rowed on a creaky boat through some of the 8km long Phong Nha river cave, a long tall tunnel through a mountain with some lights fitted for a freaky stalagmite shadow puppet show.
Not content with one cave, we also visited the official Longest-Dry-Cave-In-Asia "Paradise Cave" (31km long) which was recently discovered and quickly exploited for tourists like us. The road to the cave is stunning with a brilliant turquoise brook running through the valley; then there is a 20 minute hike up a hill to a deceptively small opening. The cave is huge! You can only walk in the first kilometer (so the selling point of the cave is a little irrelevant), but this is enough. It is again illuminated in a pleasantly subtle fashion which is perfect as for the most part no headtorch would even reach the ceiling.
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| Phong Nha river cave |
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| Paradise Cave |
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| Unexpected celebrity treatment from some Vietnamese tourists! |
Day 37 - Dong Hoi to Ky Anh (94km with baby hills)
The ride was a pleasant mix of nice scenery and friendly small towns. Craving an apple, I stopped at a little market where almost instantly all the women gathered round to ask questions and have a laugh with us (with a few fairly rude looking gestures). Hilariously a lady offered some raw pig leg for Kath as a refreshing snack - we instead opted for doughnuts where she sneakily tried to give us 20 instead of 2. I also got to try a new fruit called a custard apple, which looks like an artichoke, but you peel it to reveal some soft pear-tasting flesh full of inedible black seeds.
A mixture of light rain and construction work meant we once again arrived coked in mud at the hotel - but they didn't even blink.
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| Kath and the Custard Apple (a lesser known Roald Dahl novel) |
Day 38 - Ky Anh to Vinh (102km with baby hills)
One of the nicest things about riding through Vietnam is the relaxed atmosphere. Houses and shops are generally open front - so you can see families playing cards or watching TV together. People play chinese chequers in the street, or just sit watching the world go by for hours. Some people match our cycling speed on their mopeds for a quick chat while they mooch about their business. It's all very pleasant.
Anyway, the sun came out today so all the mud became dust, and with an abundance of construction works, the side of the roads became giant trenches to make way for the much needed road widening. Along the way makeshift bridges had been made to marooned businesses on the far side of the trenches out of old wood or bamboo. The dust actually became so intense we had black slime coming out of our tear ducts.
And talking of slime... we saw the Vietnamese for "snail claypot" at the side of the road and pulled in tentatively for an experience. Well, the snails were in a lemongrass broth and tasted lovely - surprisingly akin to beef. We used cocktail sticks to deshell and dunk in a garlic chilli dip and had a sesame popadom thing too.
We also got to try a bit of the finished highway in the afternoon, and as roads go it was very nice. Being wider it feels less crowded and the central reservation stops full speed buses pummeling down the wrong side of the road. Thumbs up from us.
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| Snails! Nom Nom Nom! |
Day 39 - Vinh
There's not much to see in Vinh, but we needed a rest, a bike wash and a coconut full of fruit and ice cream.
We also visited the "Big C" which has a familiar supermarket setting, but is full of all the strange fruits, fish, dried meat and baked goodies that we'd seen and a load we hadn't. There are more choices for loose grains of rice than of breakfast cereals. Also, while western vanity products often aim to tan or at least fake it - it is actually difficult to find creams that don't contain skin whitening here! The world be crazy.
- Jon
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| Decadance! |
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| Elevation for the 375km from Hue to Vinh |
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