Hue was a really pleasant place to spend a couple days. In addition to being a vibrant but relaxed city, the weather has improved markedly as we’ve moved south. The north was marked by lots of grey skies and misty conditions. Down in Hue we actually saw blue skies and defined clouds, which was amazing. We really were looking forward to some better weather.
Hue is known for it’s citadel and Imperial City. Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the 1800’s and the rulers had the citadel and Imperial City built starting in the early 1800’s. We toured the citadel on our first day on bike, marveling at the city gates that reminded us of European cities. We toured the Imperial City on our 2nd day, and it was somewhat underwhelming, having been mostly destroyed in a number of battles and wars, including the American/Vietnam war but also by the French. A small fraction of the original buildings still exist. We enjoyed eating our way through Hue, which has some distinctive cuisine and is known for a dish called Bún Bo (a version of soup like Pho) as well as Salt Coffee, which is way better than you might imagine. It’s really good, made from coffee, cocoa, cream, and salt. It comes on ice, and it’s amazing.
Leaving Hue, we were going to Hoi An in 2 days ride, about 100 miles total, stopping at a place called Lang Co on the first night, staying at a beach town just before a big climb that will bring us through Da Nang and then to Hoi An.
Today’s ride was amazing. We had no idea of what we would experience along the way, and so it was with particular delight that we experienced what we did. The following is taken from a website that I’ve read as I researched Vietnam, and it describes eloquently what we saw along the way today.
“Thousands of elaborately decorated traditional Vietnamese tombs are scattered over the landscape along the central coast. Coastal back-roads, covering almost 200km of completely empty beach, lead from the old imperial capital of Hue to the up-and-coming coastal city of Dong Hoi, gateway to the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The coastal region between these two cities is rarely explored by foreign visitors: most people, if they stop here at all, head to war-related sites around the former DMZ, between the coast and the mountains. This has left a barely believable stretch of unbroken beach almost entirely unvisited. While Danang, Nha Trang and other darlings of Vietnam’s booming beach scene become increasingly touristed and built-up, this strip of central coastline remains essentially untouched. Characterized by calm blue sea and long arcs of bright sand where fishermen pull up their svelte-looking wood-and-weave fishing canoes, this road trip takes you on paved and dirt back-roads along an incredible coastline strewn with royal-style tombs.”
There’s more descriptions on the site of this area and it’s worth reading. Anyone planning to visit Vietnam would be well advised to spend some time on vietnamcoracle.com.
In addition to seeing hundreds of tombs along the way, we went through picturesque street markets, and encountered more water buffalos and rice paddies. Rice is just starting to be harvested, and women were drying rice on large tarps in the sun in courtyards. It felt like an authentic part of Vietnam life.
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