Viet Road Trip Day 39 and Beyond
Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Viet Nam. This is day 39. The previous post can be found here.
There was a huge holiday going on and almost every hotel was full, in Hue. I found a hotel with the help of a local man. I was so grateful for the man's assistance, I agreed to have him show me around for the next few days.
I'm not really one for sightseeing, but I felt like I owed the guy for helping me out. He was also friendly and seemed like a good guy.
We went to an outdoor military museum first. It was OK, but most of the installations were of American aircraft. I think we were wrong to start a war with Vietnam, but that doesn't make it any easier to see downed US aircraft.
Also, because of the holiday, there were thousands of Vietnamese tourists at the tourist attractions. I dislike crowds so after getting a few pictures we went to a different site.
Next, we went to a crowded temple. I'm not sure if I even climbed the stairs to the top of it. I tried, but ultimately failed, to explain to my driver that I did't want to see temples. After seeing the temples at Angkor, other temples are boring for me. There were some cool boats there, so that was cool.
Next, we went to a place where women make incense. I guess most tourists are into this kind of stuff, but I was ready to go before I got off my bike. Tourist traps like this are such dog and pony shows that I can't enjoy myself. It just feels fake and staged and I don't like playing the role of amazed tourist.
The incense displays were pretty cool to look at, but I don't use incense. We didn't stay for very long.
After that, we went to a place where (I think) some Chinese royalty are buried. There were some cool statues, cool trees, and a moat going around most of it. The best part was that it was almost completely deserted. It was nice to wander around area without hundreds of other people around.
We went to some less popular places and they were more my speed. There was a cool bridge that locals go to and hang out. We got some sugar cane juice and chilled out at the bridge for a while.
We also went to a small fishing village. The villagers were on holiday too, so there wasn't much activity. Or maybe they fish at night, I'm not sure.
The next day my guide met me at my hotel and we did more local stuff. We went to a friend or relative's house for a visit. They were making their own hot sauce and I really wanted to buy some, but it wasn't ready.
We went to a couple of picturesque cafes that I didn't take pictures of. And we went to a place where they make rice paper. That was actually pretty cool to see. We had fresh spring rolls there that I thoroughly enjoyed.
My guide took me to his sister's baby food store/restaurant. It looked like many other walk-up food places with pictures of meat and veggies on the wall, but all they sold was fresh made baby food.
On one of the evenings in Hue, I walked down the street to buy some beer. An older guy asked me to stop and drink with him in front of his store. I was happy to. I spent a few hours hanging out with him. Unfortunately, I almost killed him with my e-cigarette. He insisted on trying it, and I tried to warn him, but he coughed for 10 minutes after taking a puff. I was a little worried for a second.
After a few nights, the holiday was over. I got on the road and headed to Da Nang as soon as I could. I would end up spending months in Da Nang. I'll probably post some of those photos later. Until then, ride safe.
Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Vietnam. Read about days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 9, 9.1, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15-17, 18, 19, 20-21, 22, 23,
24, and 29 here.