I arrived in Hue (“ha-way”) early this morning. I had only a few good hours of sleep on the train. I looked at the map in my guidebook for the cluster of guesthouses. It was nearly a mile away. I decided that it was close enough to walk. I felt energetic and could use some morning exercise.
The moment I exited the train, people were pestering me to take their taxi and stay ate their suggested accomodation. One guy told me I should stay at his guesthouse, and he could give me a free ride there. I declined both. I wanted to walk, and he was selling too hard. He gave me his card. I took it, but I shouldn’t have.
I walked out of the train station. I pulled out my trusty compass, given to me by Jameelah, and got my bearings. I headed northeast toward the town. It would be a long walk down the main street.
Five minutes later, the hard seller guy approached me. He had followed me in his minivan. He repeated his offer. I repeated my decline. He got the hint this time. I continued walking.
A motorbike driver approached me a few minutes later. He was selling his motorbike tour of the city. I listened for a moment, since I would only be here one day. Maybe a tour would be the best thing to do. But I was tired and just wanted to find a room and go to sleep.
The motorbike driver gave me his card, and I said I might call him. He asked when. I didn’t know. Then he suggested I go to a certain guesthouse. I took a card for it as well. He offered to drive me there. I declined. I wanted to walk, and I wanted to choose my own guesthouse.
I started walking. The motorbike driver tried to persuade me otherwise. He said the guesthouses were a far walk from here. I knew it wasn’t that far. I had my map (to scale). I continued walking.
I didn’t notice but he drove several blocks ahead of me–near the guesthouses. When I got up there, I saw him just sitting there waiting for me to walk passed him. I decided to take a detour and walk one block to the right and then forward, and back to the main street again. It was a good plan in theory, but he was too smart. He must have known that I took a detour.
Five minutes later, he caught me on the side street. I guess it was an obvious detour. I should have holed up in a restaraunt for breakfast to lose him for good. He offered his tour and guesthouse again, and he offered a cafe in which to eat. They were all straight down the road, he said. I sighed and made and about-face. I walked back to the main street. I didn’t see him again. He got the hint finally.
I reached the guesthouse I wanted. They had room for me. Yay. I felt relieved. I put my stuff down and walked out for breakfast. The guesthouse next to mine sold me on a motorbike tour. I would return in two hours for it.
Nam was my motorbike tour guide. He drove me all around Hue, showing me the sights. I really enjoyed the tour–especially the rice fields.
Hue was a major battle site in the Vietnam war. Many of the sights were damaged by bombings. The ruler, Tu Doc, from the late 19th century had himself buried in a secret location at his home. He had all 200 servants killed, who built his tomb, so that no one would know where it was and no one could rob his grave.
