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 Photo
essay:
Vietnam Bicycle Tour: Imperial Roots (Central)
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Hue – Lang Co (80km, 50mi) A generally
flat ride along Highway 1 (two modest hills near the end.)
Points of interest: Royal tombs, Gulf of Cao Hai, fishing villages, coastal
plains, beach. |
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Pool table are common sites in cities and small
towns alike. Generally it is just men and boys around them.
The farmer
is using a tripod with a scoop suspended below it to get water from the
irrigation ditch to the field. |
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When we stopped in a rural
restaurant for a morning tea they were dressing deer that hunters had killed the
night before. The corresponding item on the menu (right) is "Toasted
Deer". No one in our group tried it. |
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About 10km south of Hue, up the
Perfume River, are the Minh Mang Tomb, dating from the late 19th century.
It is one of the most elegant of the imperial tombs around Hue. The
grounds were used by the Emperor and his family as a retreat while he ruled.
He would travel back and forth to Hue by boat. |
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Even when the buildings were rather
plain from the outside the interiors are often gorgeous and detailed, displaying the artistry
of the craftsmen of the time. |
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Statues of an elephant and horse,
and warriors, in the honor court in the burial area of the Minh Mang Tomb.
The mandarins await orders. |
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Walking around the shines, gardens
and lakes of Minh Mang I tried to imagine the life of the elite a century ago as
they strolled through these grounds -- not a bad life. Of course, it takes
a lot of servants and peasants paying taxes to support that lifestyle -- their
lives probably weren't as pleasant. |
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If you take a closer look at this
bicyclist you will see that he is hauling another bike, on the back of her bike.
In the estuaries along the coast boats are common form of non-motorized
transportation. |
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The boats (left) float motionlessly in the Gulf of Cao Hai.
Just upland a girl (right) grazes a water buffalo. |
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The villages, the people, the
farmland, all form a captivating collage of images. It is often hard to
make forward progress on the bicycle because it is so interesting and gratifying
to watch how all the different pieces of life fit so comfortably together --
like the rice paddies on the plains. |
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This section is a generally flat ride along Highway 1, there are
two modest hills near the end, which reward you with longer view. As you
enter Lang Co you pass the Catholic cemetery (right). A man is working on one of the grave markers. |
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Lang Co is a small community with a long beach.
The construction of new hotels along the beach indicates that tourist are starting to discover
it. Our hotel (right) was typical of the private family-owned and
operated mini-hotels common in medium-size and larger towns around the country.
They are general skinny buildings with three or four stories. The rooms
are spacious with two beds and a private bathroom. |
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