Vietnam: August 3rd Hue - various snaps

Workers looking after the grounds of the Imperial Enclosure.
Bamboo trees.
Ornate design at the foot of a ruined pillar.
Workers doing the weeding.

The passage of time creates a pattern on the outer wall of the temple complex.

Riding home with street side vendors selling longans.
A roadside reminder of the war.
Vietnamese Coca Cola can.

Vietnam: August 3rd Hue

Got a wake-up call at the unfeasibly early time of 3:30 am as requested to allow enough time to get everything sorted out to check out in time for the taxi at four. Why was I up at such a ridiculous hour of the morning? The plan was to go to look around Hue, the former capital, and unfortunately at such short notice (i.e., trying to book a ticket the day before) the only flight with any space on it was the 5:40 departure.

The taxi arrived in good time and set off in the direction of the airport. Just as we reached the main road leaving the city for the airport, what traffic there was slowed almost to a standstill, and I was amazed to see that most of the lanes of the road were packed with hundreds and hundreds of people, some unloading trucks laden with fresh produce and others bartering and haggling over the prices of goods they would be selling in the streets or shops later that day.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and the flight was smooth and by 7:45 I was sitting in the lobby of the Hue Queen Hotel (a definite step up from the Camellia) waiting to check in. For a small fee I could get the key early and have some breakfast that morning at the hotel. After that it was time for a shower and a quick nap to catch up lost sleep. (Below you can see the view from the room. It's worth coming back to this later for a comparison with a shot taken the next day to follow in this blog.)

Got up refreshed late morning and asked the hotel to organise a bicycle rental for the day to make it easier to explore the city. It turned out the 'contact' they had for bike rental had possibly the oldest and ricketiest bikes you could imagine (either that or the newer ones had already been rented out), but I guessed that I could survive for the day.

Before heading off to the sites, I decided to have some lunch at Pho 24 ~ a kind of chain specialising in the famous Vietnamese noodle dish. I had pho bo (beef noodles), which was pretty good.

After refuelling, it was time to cycle over the Perfumed River towards the main attraction of Hue ~ the Citadel, which dates from the 17th century, though many of the palaces and other structures inside were built later in the 19th century when Hue was the capital of the country.

Near the river is the imposing flag tower (the tallest in the country) that has been destroyed and rebuilt a few times over the years (most recently in 1947). It was also a significant landmark in the 1968 Tet Offensive, as Hue was the only city in the south to be occupied by the VietCong for any amount of time, and for almost a month, their flag flew defiantly from the flag pole as the US and South Vietnamese troops bombarded the Citadel.

Inside the Citadel area, the main attraction is the Imperial Enclosure, which is effectively a citadel inside a citadel. The main gate, or Ngo Mon Gate, can be seen below.
Inside the Imperial Enclosure, visitors can see ruins, partially restored buildings or reconstructed versions of many of the old imperial palaces and buildings.

Thai Hoa Palace.

Part of the ruins of Can Chanh Palace.
Another crumbling ruin ~ standing in front of some old steps.

For me, the most impressive thing was the Emperor's Reading Room, shown above, with its ornate mosaic decorations. Apparently this was the only building inside the Forbidden Purple City (the innermost sanctum of the Imperial Enclosure) that managed to survive both the French re-occupation of 1947 and the 1968 Tet Offensive more or less in tact.

In the southern part of the Imperial Enclosure is the To Thieu Temple complex (above) which was painstakinlgy restored about ten years ago, and now looks very impressive.

From there it was a hair-raising, yet totally exhilarating ride back through the rush hour traffic with a slow puncture to add to the excitement.

In the evening, it was dinner at a place called Club Garden, where I had a set meal with plenty of delicious food, though I was really full at the end. Walked off the meal a bit and the stopped for a drink on the small terrace of a bar called Why Not?, which seemed a popular draw with other foreigners in town.

Vietnam: August 2nd Hanoi - various snaps

Young women looking out over Hoan Kiem Lake.
Souvenirs for sale in the Old Quarter.

Fruit vendors taking a break in the mid-afternoon heat.

Hanoi is full of bikes at all times of the day.

Vietnam: August 2nd Hanoi

After the visit to the lake, it was time for a stroll around the maze of streets that make up the Old Quarter. Originally there were 36 streets each lined with shops for certain trades. Nowadays the main trade in the area is souvenirs for tourists, but some streets are still reserved for certain kind of shops ~ one street is full of shoe shops, one rather aromatic street is full of shops selling herbs and spices, another full of shops selling Buddhist statues and other related goods, while yet another features mirror shops, and so on.

The colonial era buildings are in various states of repair and few have lost their charm, and when I wasn't looking left and right to dodge the oncoming traffic, I spent a lot of time looking up at the fronts of the old shophouses. On thing in particular I liked was the way the trees on the streets were almost left to their own devices ~ to the extent that in some cases they began blending with the buildings around them, as can be seen in a couple of pictures above. Quite different to the well-groomed and trimmed avenues you might see in Europe or Japan.

A couple of hours wandering through the maze of streets was enough to work up an appetite and it was also time for a break from the heat and humidity. Opted for lunch at a rather nice-looking place called Golden Land, and I had grilled peppered chicken in lemongrass skewers with fried sticky rice patties, which was great.

After lunch, more wandering around, taking in the St Joseph Cathedral and the streets around it and later stopping for a coffee in one of the cafes along Pho Bao Khanh.

After making some travel arrangements and taking a bit of a break at the hotel it was time to hit the town for dinner. Tonight Old Hanoi at the bottom of Ma May was the restaurant of choice. It's a friendly place with a pleasant atmosphere and some great Vietnamese food. For my dinner I chose fried spring rolls, stir fried vegetables and grilled pork chop in honey, which was mistakenly and amusingly spoonerised by the waitress ~ "Sir, here chalk pop."


Before retiring for the night, I decided to sample the 'Bia Hoi' experience. On many street corners you can see small impromptu bars set up where you can sit and watch the street life and drink a glass of cold draught beer fora mere 2,000 dong (about 15 yen or 7p!). In the Old Quarter, many of these bars are full of backpackers, though elsewhere in the city they are a very Vietnamese institution.

As tempting as it was to stay for longer, I had to get back and sleep after an eventful and long day, especially as it would be a very early start the next day.

Vietnam: August 2nd Hanoi

Not really sure that this constitutes a real view over the Old Quarter, but that wasn't such a big deal anyway since I'd come here to look around Hanoi rather than gaze longingly from a window. The breakfast wasn't that great either, but again I wasn't complaining ~ I just wouldn't come back here later in the trip. After the rain let up it was time to go out and explore Hanoi for the first time.

At 8:30 in the streets were bursting with activity and bikes were streaming through the streets making crossing the road a somewhat perilous experience. The few junctions that actually have traffic lights have seemingly little effect on what happens on the street, so you have to step out and weave your way between the oncoming bikes and hope for the best.

After I initially spending some time getting my bearings, I decided to head for Hoan Kiem lake, passing the Martyrs' Monument on the way. Hoan Kiem is one of the most famous landmarks in the city, and the paths around the lakeside are filled with tourists and Hanoians taking a leisurely stroll as well as numerous locals trying to peddle goods or run a tourist scam. In the northern part of the lake is a small island which houses the Ngoc Son Temple, and the view across the lake and the city is quite spectacular from there.

Entrance to the Ngoc Son Temple.

Looking over the lake to the Old Quarter.

Looking south over the lake.

The bridge to the temple.

Vietnam: August 1st Tokyo-Hanoi

After some last minute preparations it was off to Narita mid-afternoon to catch the early evening flight to Hanoi. It was a blistering hot day in Tokyo (with the rainy season officially declared finished at long last), and yet I was heading off to a country in the middle of their wet season. I was wondering if it could actually be more humid than in Tokyo.

The flight was very smooth arriving on time. After a very thorough passport check (mine is neither biometric or machine readable, which is actually something of an inconvenience these days), I was quickly through customs and into the arrivals hall where I quickly found the pick up driver booked by the hotel. Contrary to what was suggested in my guidebook, the airport wasn't crawling with dodgy taxi touts (though maybe that was just because it was quite late).

The driver was, I later found out, a typical Vietnamese driver, driving with one hand firmly on the wheel and the other hovering over the horn ready to klaxon any second. Junctions were dealt with by ever-so-slightly lifting the foot off the gas and with one hand repeatedly sounding the horn as we sped through. Overtaking was done in a similar fashion ~ driving right up the exhaust pipe of the car in front horn blaring and flashing his headlights until the driver in front was sufficiently intimidated or irritated to move out of the way.

After approximately half an hour of this he drew into the Old Quarter of Hanoi and headed to the Hotel Camellia 4, a budget hotel that looked fine enough from its website ~ cheap and clean looking spacious rooms and the promise of a view of the Old Quarter. Seeing that it was after 11pm by this stage the view would have to wait until the morning.