Arriving in Hue
Arrived in Hue at 7 in the morning, and of course I got jumped again
by 5 guys on a motorcycle wanting to drive me to the hostel. Against seriously inflated tourist prices of course. But after 13 hours sitting in a train listening to English Christmas songs translated into Vietnamese, I could use a walk. My estimation was a 20-minute walk to the hostel (from google maps) turned out to be slightly less than an hour. But ah well, had plenty of time anyway. Finally arrived at the hostel at 8 am.
Hue backpackers hostel is part of a chain of different hostels around Vietnam. Two others can be found in Hanoi. The hostel itself is quite nice, and priced $5, reasonably priced as well. I especially liked the balcony in front of the rooms, to sit back and relax. Staff is very nice and helpful as well, and it’s easy to get in contact with other people staying around.
The first day I just walked around the old citadel. The weather was sunny and 25 degrees. Walked around for about 4 hours before getting back to the hostel, stopping at one of the food
clocks in Hue hostel
stalls on the street along the way before returning to the hostel to get some well-deserved rest.
Biking around the countryside
The second day I rented a bicycle to get into the countryside of Hue. Again, there was lots of sun, and around 25 degrees that day. The plan was basically, to leave town across the river to the southeast. After following the exit highway for a while, I turned onto a dusty road, and immediately drove into the countryside. It was amazing! I think on that day, I fell in love with Vietnam. The road went on for miles and miles, through small villages and farmland, while almost everyone said hello while I was driving past them (I guess they haven’t seen that many white Dutch guys with a big bush of curly hair driving around there). Somewhere along the road, I got signed to stop by a few kids (5-7 years old) that wanted me to take a picture from them. They only talked very few words of English, but you saw the curiosity in their eyes.
Then, halfway, a girl suddenly started to drive next to me. She was very small, long hair and I’d
Tu Duc tomb
say she was about 14, although later I learned she was actually 20 years old. Her English was very bad, but she still had the courage to talk to a total stranger. You could see that she was trying very hard, and I am still amazed by the courage she had. When she ran out of words, (basically after 3 sentences) she started calling a friend for help. It was a really beautiful sight, and I ended up driving next to her and talking for about 20 minutes before she took a turn.
I continued and continued, drove past many amazing sights, villages, graveyards, temples, farms and even a Vietnamese wedding, before I decided to turn back. Finding the road wasn’t really difficult, since all I did was going straight. On the way back, everyone was still saying hello to me. I stopped halfway in a village to get buy some water and take a look at the map. Some guy that sold me the water, insisted to give directions how I could go back to Hue, even though I knew. He ended up drawing basically a whole map of the area, with distances and how long the ride
Tu duc tomb servants place
was.
Returned my bicycle after a 6-hour drive, and took the rest of the day off. I ended up spending the evening with a girl from Belgium, Katrien, an Italian guy, Michele and an Australian guy, Josh.. The next day, we made plans to drive around with a motorcycle around Hue to see the pagodas, temples and tombs around Hue. I never drove a motorcycle before really, but since it’s the most popular mode of transport in the country, I had to start sometime.
Driving the motorcycle
We left the next morning from the hostel, where I first tried driving one. Went very badly, and almost ended up in crashing into a parked car. The rest of the evening, and the better part of the afternoon, I spend on the back of the motorcycle. It was a thrill to even drive on the back. Vietnamese traffic is crazy and has no rules at all, and it can be quite scary not having any control while someone else is driving. In Dutch, there is a saying that translates into “I crap 7 colours of shit”, which basically means being was very scared. It was basically what I did. Especially My bicycle
because one of the motorcycles didn’t have working breaks, and I didn’t have control over anything. I made it to the first tomb alive though.
The Tu duc Tomb is a tomb of the same-named emperor. It was built in 1867. The Vietnamese people preserved it very well, especially considering all the fighting in the area, and made it into a tourist attraction. For a fee of just 50.000D (2 euros) we were able to walk around the whole area. The area was stunning, and it’s amazing how they preserved it for that many centuries. All pictures are on Facebook by the way, just check them out! After we visited the tomb, a few pagodas were on the list. There was a small road just off the main road that wasn’t marked on the map. Because of that, there were no tourists around. That road had a few amazing temples that we could go into (had to ask first, they were private property).
When there was the plan to return to the hostel, I tried driving for a bit. With success this time! The roads were completely empty, so there is less risk of crashing into something. Joined
another pic from my cycling trip
the main traffic soon after. The trick is to just go with the flow. As long as you drive with the flow of the traffic, there is only a small risk of a crash, but as soon as you stop while everyone is driving around you, you will get hurt. It is such a powerful feeling when you and 150 other motorbikes with roaring engines accelerate together when a traffic lights go on green!
Anyway, after I got lost for a bit in the crazy Vietnam traffic, we picked up a beautiful sunset at a pagoda right next to the river crossing through Hue, and went back to the hostel to grab some dinner. It was Christmas eve, after all.
merry Xmas!
The hostel organised a lunch for people who were staying at the hostel on Christmas day. It cost 250.000D (10 euros) and what did we get in return? A good lunch, but nothing much really… At least, it wasn’t worth the cash if you consider that in a random street stall, where the food is just as good, you can eat for 30.000D. Ah well, the company was nice. That’s worth something too, I guess. In me 
the morning, before the lunch, i went for a walk around the Hue citadel with Barbara, a German girl, also travelling alone. Made a lot of great pictures, and had a good talk. That evening, I met up with the American guy, Michael, which whom I would be travelling around for for almost a week.
Second Christmas day, it was raining, and nothing much to do. Had to wait for the train that was leaving at 5 PM, so I did nothing much really… Had a hard sleeper on that train, which was 70% more expensive than the soft seat. They told me that that was the only option still available, although later I learned that the American dude, who bought his ticket one day later, could still get a soft seat. They screwed me over for 160.000D! At least I had a fairly decent sleep, and got the chance to meet some dude from India, who told me a bit about Singapore’s investment in logistics in the art. He told me that was a place worth checking out to get my internship next semester. And I will certainly do!
