Vietnam, November 2016-seeing Hue.

When you have a dodgy hip and you don’t want to stop seeing Hue, the answer is to hire a Cyclo driver.

After a morning at the Imperial palace, which is huge, impressive and awesome, my legs told me I couldn’t do much more, but there was so much more of the city to see.

Hobbling out to the road to try to find some form of transport back to the hotel , the cyclo drivers were lined up just waiting for the likes of me. 

One enterprising soul spotted me as a sure thing and came bounding down the pathway to offer me an arm and a half hour ride ending back up at the hotel for a price. As I needed to sit desperately and public benches were lacking on this cobbled walkway, I half-heartedly played at haggling, knowing he would do well out of me.

Bliss as I sat in the Cyclo.

Well, what a prize I found. I want to see it all, life on the streets, down the narrow alleys, in the markets and my man, 25 years on the Hue cyclo road knew it all, but there was still a small frisson of colonial servitude in my mind over the method of transport.

Fifteen minutes in, having got over my embarrassment of being cycled around like some sultan in a palanquin, it was perfect for me with a want to see, but a hip that was failing me ( damn that hip, it lets me down so much) and this was his job, so a little renegotiation of time and cost and I had the perfect tour guide. His English was perfect and he knew everywhere in Hue.

Out of nowhere, on one of the main roads the Catholic church in Hue, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Hue, Thua Thien appeared above the festoon of wiring… Oh yes, Monday windows!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cyclo man himself. If you are ever in Hue and he offers you a cyclo ride, take it! For the next day we arranged a further trip, but more on that another time…

An interesting link to Rusty Compass for more information on Hue, historic churches and history of religion in Hue.

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