.vn: cycling adventure near Hue
i was determined to rent a bicycle at least once in Vietnam and my friend Candace, as well as the venerable Lonely Planet, had recommended peddling around Hue. just outside the city are many temples and tombs. we rented some very rickety bicycles from our hotel, sized for the Vietnamese and requiring more effort to pedal (there was a moment of longing for my Seven, mixed with the realizatio it would not fare well on the potholed roads...) at first i was thrown off because many people stared at me and giggled, and two young kids attached themselves to me, laughing, grabbing my clothing, and urging me on. it wasn't until a group of four Vietnamese teenagers on one motorbike, laughing hysterically, pointed to my rear tire that i realized it wasn't just that the bike required more effort, i had a flat. luckily, a 'repair shop' was just past the next dusty bend; the kids took a cut for leading me there, but it was worth it to watch the tire quickly patched with small, blunt metal instruments. it cost under $1 total (11000 dong for the repair; 2000 for the kids.)
after recovering from the flat, we made it around the next bend to what i decided was one of the most moving temples yet. the setting and serenity reminded me of other ruins i'd seen in Turkey and Greece. it was a spirtual place without feeling like it was any particular religion.
the bike ride itself was an adventure: i discovered the brakes barely worked, due to the fact that the Vietnamese rarely pedal fast enough to require brakes. as we headed out of the city to find the tombs, a woman on a motorbike pulled up and began talking to me in broken English. she asked where we were going, and when i told her the tombs, she was delighted and told me to follow her as she lived near the tombs. it was hard to confer on bicycle with traffic, so i just went for it, and tried to memorize the (thankfully few) turns she took, as we had only a large-scale map with no road names. along the way many of the children (who almost always yell 'hello!') took even more notice of the crazy foreigners on the bicycles, probably pedalling at least twice as fast as the average Vietnamese cyclist. one boy was inspired race me up the hill, but as we were about to crest, neck and neck, he veered off to the right.
we quickly left the beaten track into some rolling countryside - beautiful! i was unsure of just what tomb we were headed for, but it turned out to be Khai Dinh, the one furthest away. it was by far the most impressive, dramatically perched on a hillside... and also the one tomb we weren't planning on visiting. ;) our friend invited us to her home for tea afterwards, but we declined, worried about how long it would take to find our way back in the fading sunlight and hoping to visit at least one more tomb
after exploring, we pedalled back at a more leisurely pace and managed to take in one other tomb, Tu Doc, that was also impressive - a much more sprawling complex with a pond and Chinese influences. finally, we found our way home through poor section of town and back to tourist row and showers by the perfume river, with even some sunlight to spare.
after recovering from the flat, we made it around the next bend to what i decided was one of the most moving temples yet. the setting and serenity reminded me of other ruins i'd seen in Turkey and Greece. it was a spirtual place without feeling like it was any particular religion.
the bike ride itself was an adventure: i discovered the brakes barely worked, due to the fact that the Vietnamese rarely pedal fast enough to require brakes. as we headed out of the city to find the tombs, a woman on a motorbike pulled up and began talking to me in broken English. she asked where we were going, and when i told her the tombs, she was delighted and told me to follow her as she lived near the tombs. it was hard to confer on bicycle with traffic, so i just went for it, and tried to memorize the (thankfully few) turns she took, as we had only a large-scale map with no road names. along the way many of the children (who almost always yell 'hello!') took even more notice of the crazy foreigners on the bicycles, probably pedalling at least twice as fast as the average Vietnamese cyclist. one boy was inspired race me up the hill, but as we were about to crest, neck and neck, he veered off to the right.
we quickly left the beaten track into some rolling countryside - beautiful! i was unsure of just what tomb we were headed for, but it turned out to be Khai Dinh, the one furthest away. it was by far the most impressive, dramatically perched on a hillside... and also the one tomb we weren't planning on visiting. ;) our friend invited us to her home for tea afterwards, but we declined, worried about how long it would take to find our way back in the fading sunlight and hoping to visit at least one more tomb
after exploring, we pedalled back at a more leisurely pace and managed to take in one other tomb, Tu Doc, that was also impressive - a much more sprawling complex with a pond and Chinese influences. finally, we found our way home through poor section of town and back to tourist row and showers by the perfume river, with even some sunlight to spare.
posted by rk at 10:35 PM
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