Day Forty One: Motorbikes and Trains

Day Forty One March 3rd, 2009

Hue
Today we only had part of the day to explore the rest of the city so a new friend and I decided to set out to see the area by motorbike. Zipping through the city on motorbike is the best way to see the world through the eyes of a Vietnamese since it seems that every single person in the country now finds themselves atop one at some point in the day. With experience biking New York City, these streets no matter how busy were not too much of a problem. As we go further and further out of town the roads begin to narrow and the intense green of the rice paddies increases. Crossing over the various small tributaries of the river we are met by the smiles and waves of the cheerful children that play near the roads. We pass a brick factory with smoke billowing out the top, so hot that you can feel the intensity of the heat as we wizz by. One of the city's canals is home to rows and rows of house boats. The canal just as green as any field due to the lily pads and other aquatic flora. It was very surreal to sit next to the river as the green floated rapidly past the stationary house boats. Above the canal there is a rickety bridge offering the constant clunk of loose boards as the parade of motorbikes crosses over.
In the evening we head for the train station for the journey by overnight train to Hanoi. Others in the group described the train as a "prison on wheels." I on the other hand thought that it was just fine, although the constant hum and apparent flicker of the florescent lighting is just about to drive me mad.