Tag: Hue

Hue | In your neighborhood

Post author By Ferdz
Post date September 27, 2006
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Elephants across the streets

Good morning Elephants

“Who are the people in your neighborhood…In your neighborhood? …In your neighborhood?” Or so the Sesame Street song goes.

The song made me think of interesting things I’ve seen just looking out of the window from the places I’ve stayed. When I stayed in Ngoc Mai hotel in Hue, Vietnam, I was amused to see a couple of Elephants across the street when I went out of our room’s veranda after waking up. It’s not everyday I wake up to see elephants across the street. Surely made my morning.

Any interesting view out your windows lately?

Tags Hue

Thura Thien-Hue Travel Vietnam

Hue | Tomb of Khai Dinh

One of the tomb towers

One of the watch towers at Tomb of Khai Dinh

Taking off from Tomb of Tú Ðúc in Hue, we drove of for a few minutes up to a hill top where another Tomb is nestled among its lush greenery. The impressive Tomb of Khai Dinh, with intricately dragon-adorned tier of stairs, gates and structures, is one of the well preserved tombs in the area. Constructed for over 11 years since 1920 (though Emperor Khai Dinh ruled only for 9 years in Vietnam during), the tomb has some Western influence since the emperor himself was able to visit France.

Tags Heritage, Hue, Structures, Tomb of Khai Dinh, Tombs

Eats Food Quang Nam Thura Thien-Hue Vietnam

Good morning Vietnam: A Vietnamese Breakfast

Post author By Ferdz
Post date August 27, 2006
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Breakfast with the Vietnamese

Breakfast with the Vietnamese

Another thing I learned about the Vietnamese is that they are very lazy when in comes to breakfast. Our guide Lee Tien, told us that most of them after waking up and before going to work usually just stops by at the nearest corner food stall and eat a quick Vietnamese breakfast.

Tags Eats, Hoi An, Hue

Thura Thien-Hue Travel Vietnam

Hue | Tomb of Tu Duc

Stairs leading towards the Khiem Cung Gate

Stairs leading towards the Khiem Cung Gate

Still part of Hue’s UNESCO sites are the numerous Royal Tombs scattered along its area. Most of these are form the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) which is the last of Vietnam’s Royal families. There were 13 kings then but for some reasons there were only 7 royal tombs constructed on the hilly regions just south of the Imperial Citadel. In order to access to these tombs, you can hire a scooter or a motorcycle to drive you in each tomb, most popular though are the Dragon Boats which will cruise you along the Perfume River. Dragon boats, which are the leisurely way to travel, cost about $3 USD per pax for a whole day including lunch. Downside here is once you docked on different points; you still have to hire a xe om (scooter) to take you to the tombs since. And you know you have to haggle for a really good price and a good price starts around $1 USD and in addition to that is the 55000 Dong in each of the tomb entrance. It takes a couple of days to see all the tombs. For us however, having only limited time, we were able to visit two tombs, via motorcycle (which we contracted for the duration of our trip). Our first stop it the Tomb of Tu Duc in Hue.

Tags Heritage, Hue, Structures, Tomb, Tu Duc, UNESCO

Festivals Thura Thien-Hue Travel Vietnam

Hue | Chao Mung Festival 2006

Post author By Ferdz
Post date July 16, 2006
No Comments on Hue | Chao Mung Festival 2006

Lost in Lanterns

Lost in Lanterns. A Vietnamese girl inspects each lantern for tonight’s festival

We had no idea there would a festival in Hué at this time of the year. The Guide Books nor the internet doesn’t have any information on this, so we felt fortunate to have witnessed their celebration of the Chao Mung Festival 2006 in Hué. We were also worried at first since we don’t have any reservations in any hotel there. Thanks to Lee Tien, one of the Easy Riders, a group of Motorcyclist we met in Da Nang, he managed to book us a Hotel in Hué since there was an influx of tourists who are also attending the festival, most popular lodgings are taken. They booked us a double bed room in Ngoc Mai hotel, a bit distant from the central city but manageable enough and the rooms are elegant and cheap for $12 USD per night.

Tags Hue, Imperial Citadel, People

Thura Thien-Hue Travel Vietnam

Hué’s Imperial Citadel

The Ngo Mon Gate

The Imperial Citadel in Hué

One reason why I’ve chosen to go to Central Vietnam instead of the popular cities of Hanoi in the north or Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in the south is because the Central region has a concentration of 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites all quite accessible from the regions main gateway city of Da Nang. UNESCO’s got quite a lengthy list, which I doubt I could cover all of them in this lifetime. And you could never go wrong visiting these sites as they are carefully selected, funded and preserved.

The Ngo Mon Gate and Bridge

The Ngo Mon Gate and Bridge

Our first stop is up to the city of Hué (h-way). I didn’t expect Hué to be such a big and modern city and was surprised to see how developed it was. I was imagining the place to be smaller, provincial like, with all the sights just a walking distance from each other. Though the place somehow caught up in urban development, the city still have the Complex Monuments spread out across the city along by the scenic Perfume River. These historical monuments, despite being stricken by war managed to survive and earned its rightful place in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

Tags Heritage, Hue, Imperial Citadel, Structures, UNESCO

General Singapore Vietnam

From ancient cities to modern skyscrapers

Post author By Ferdz
Post date June 13, 2006
No Comments on From ancient cities to modern skyscrapers

Hue Chao Mung Festival

The Imperial Citadel of Hue, Central Vietnam

It’s so nice to go back home after a very long and far away travel. Though it may be tiring but the excitement and rewards of traveling to different places is incomparable. Somehow, every time you go back, you are a different person. You bring back all the experience, the culture and the people you’ve encountered on your recent travel. The sights and sounds, whether you it exceeded your expectations or not, are forever engraved in your memories.

In my recent travel to Central Vietnam, I was literally blown away by the excitingly wild city streets of Vietnam. Riding on the back of a motorcycle from city to city to visit ancient heritage sights is quite an experience to remember.

Singapore's Central Business District

Singapore’s Central Business District

In a major contrast, Singapore’s modern city, despite its overly-sanitized environs still holds some cultural treasures under its fast-growing urban façade.

For now its time to rest these weary feet and be ready for another round of travel. 😛

Tags Central Business District, Citadel, Hue, Skyscrapers