Let's see this city...
Hue is the ancient capital of the Nguyen Dynasty. To see this ancient capital, we decided to rent motorbikes and travel to the sites - tombs, pagodas, and the Citadel. But, we had to hurry up and wait, as our motorbikes were ready at 7:30 a.m. at Xuan Trang Cafe instead of the 7:00 a.m. as had been promised. They must be on island time.
We rushed off on our motorbikes. I've been on a motorbike probably once or twice in my life, so I wasn't very skilled at riding the bike. Terry shot off in the direction of the arena, and I tried my best to keep up with him. We drove around in circles, driving down one or another alley way. Eventually, we got close by asking for directions. A local indicated that we should turn off of Bui Thi Xuan and go down a narrow alley way. It didn't seem like the correct road for such an important monument, but in a few minutes we stood before a brick and concrete arena. We arrived at Ho Quyen, where lions and elephants used to fight one another. If the tiger were winning, the crowd would be unhappy; if the elephant, the crowd would be jubilant.
The Entrance Gate for Ho Quyen
The Royal Arena
Picture This!
At the Arena, we were surrounded by kids from the neighboring houses. They wanted to sell us all sorts of things - postcards of photos from the early 1900s or other worthless junk.
After that we rushed off to the tomb of Tu' D'uc. Along the way, I noticed that the tire on Terry's moto was getting low. After walking around the tomb, we went back to get on our motos. Terry's back tire was now flat. We decided to double up on my moto and drive back to where we wented the motos. Before we went very far, we made sure that our tires had enough air. We pulled into a motobike repair shop, where we charged 50.000 VND for air and a valve cap.
Tu Duc Entrance Ticket
Terry catches an image.
We tried our best to find our way back to the motorbike rental shop. We were stopped along the way by a train. We waited and provided entertainment for the locals to look at some foreign tourists. At the motobike rental, the owner's son rode out to fix the back tire. He took the bike to a neighboring repair shop. While he was doing this, Terry and I had lunch.
Our next stop was a must see - the Tu Hieu Pagoda. It was very peaceful. A tree had fallen over and a group of monks were busy trying to right it. When we left the monks had righted the tree and had placed braces against it to keep it upright.
Such a peaceful pagoda.
After the Pagoda, it was off to the Citadel. This is the walled fortress/compound on the north bank of the main river through town. It was immense and fascinating.
Citadel Entrance Ticket
The moat surrounding the Citadel.
Front entrance to the Citadel as the sun sets.
Main flag pole at the Citadel.
After visiting the pagoda, two students came up to us and asked for our thoughts about the homeless in Vietnam. Since we had only met one homeless person, we didn't have a lot to go on. Terry gave the students his impression of homeless in Vietnam and contrasted it to the homeless in the United States.
Traffic in Hue
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