City Divided.
Two sides equal a very different city...
We arrived in Hue by bus and the scenery again was stunning. There is nowhere in this country where the scenery doesn’t take your breath away. We drove through more mountains and along the river. The roads were small but the driver navigated well. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep but Paul informed me the view was stunning for the whole ride.
Arriving in Hue was again seeing something completely different than what we had already seen in Vietnam. We arrived in the tourist location which is where the restaurants and guesthouses are. Our guesthouse was called Tran Ly and it was nice. The people were friendly and the breakfast was enjoyable. The bed was a little hard but after travelling for nearly 3 months that is nothing to complain about. The location of the guesthouse was good to.
Hue is divided into two areas. We were located on the new side (south of the river) where all the tourists stay but if you cross the river you are on the north side with the Citadel. This is where the locals live. We walked for miles on this side one day and didn’t see another tourist. The locals will stop and stare at you because you are white but they are really friendly. They won’t harass you as most of them don’t speak English and there are no signs in English at all, so if you want something to eat check in a book before ordering. This is why all the tourists eat in the restaurants on the south side of the river. I really enjoyed walking in the local area, it provides you with a cultural experience you won’t get from across the river.
In Asia the pavements are designed for tourists to walk or mopeds to park, NO locals walk anywhere and this was most apparent in Hue when we were walking back over the bridge and in front of us were four sets of tourist carrying carrier bags of shopping from the large supermarket and the locals were driving home on their mopeds.
The Citadel is definitely worth a visit. It will take a day to walk around it if you are taking in everything. It is pretty with the lake and ruins. You can walk around it and be alone, it’s very peaceful. The main citadel is within a larger citadel. The only people inside though are tourists so if you want to mingle with the locals this isn’t the place to go. For those of you who don’t know what the citadel is, it begun in 1804 and served as Vietnam’s capital until 1945. If you visit the citadel the first thing you will notice is the large flag tower as you approach the main entrance. Visitor’s enter via here and it costs around £3 per person. The citadel has a lovely lotus pond with a bridge to walk over; you can even feed the fish here. The grounds are beautiful so go and have a walk around and take in the environment.
On the north side of the river there is a large market where locals shop. We walked around it for a few minutes before I had to leave. The space in Vietnam is very limited, objects are on top of objects, and people are on top of people so in a market the isles are tiny. They are big enough for one person to walk through. We were walking when a tiny old lady came up beside us and decided it was time to clear her throat. She spat right next to us and I had to leave. It was degusting.
The next day we walked along the river. We walked for miles and came to a monument that was very old. We also sat in the park that looks over the river for about two hours as this was the warmest day we had in about 3 weeks. (It’s cold in Vietnam in December).
We also walked and looked for the train station and this is outside the tourist areas so we took in our surrounding and we were surprised at what we saw. As I said in my Hoi An entry people in this country will pee anywhere and everywhere and this was made apparent when an old lady pulled down her panties, bobbed down and peed in the street. She then got up and walked back to where she was working and yes we were more shocked to see her job was serving food. So be prepared in Vietnam you never know what you’re eating and how clean the person cooking it is!!!
For anybody who knows me you will not be surprised to see I was able to find a stadium in Vietnam or more than one maybe!!!!
Next stop Hanoi...