today we got a cyclo out to the citadel on the other side of Hue where we explored all the ruins and temples
and got up nice and close to an elephant!
it was even hotter today than yesterday (a lot of the shops appeared closed and even motorbike drivers and cyclo drivers weren't following tourists around so it must have been hot even by Vietnamese standards!) so we only spent just over an hour in the citadel before getting another cyclo (after ewen did a lot of bargaining) to a silk shop we had read about in lonely planet. this is a shop called Duc Thanh where Mr Kinh Van Le does silk embroidery art. apparently it is the best place to go in Hue as Kinh's family has been creating these pieces of art for over 3 generations now. Mr Kinh took us upstairs and spent over an hour showing us all of his work, patiently turning piece after piece until we found two that we wanted. he then took photos with us both for his book that he shows all of his buyers, the book is full of letters and photos of everyone who buys art from him. he also showed us the article about himself in the lonely planet book and two different articles in magazines, he was so proud of himself and so he should be! we got two silk embrodariy art pieces for under 700,000VND (under $40 AUS) in Australia these would easily sell for $100 a piece. Mr Kinh also showed us a teapot he has displayed in a cabinet that is 500 years old, he also had a magazine article about this with a photo of him in it.
after leaving Mr Kinh's shop we walked back to the main part of Hue and i had a cocktail, some icecream and some sweet chili potato skins at a restaurant before coming back to the hotel room to pack our bags because tomorrow we leave for Hoi An.
We had planned to get a bus to Hoi An but the girls at the front desk of our hotel said a private car is driving down tomorrow with two women staying at this hotel and they want two more people to share the cost. so we are going to do that, figured it was worth the extra $9 each to sit in air conditioned comfort and be able to stop whenever we want to.
7 comments:
what a great day you've had. Have you brought hats yet?
no, i tried to today but they either looked ridiculous (rice paddy type hats) or were too small... i must have a massive head! we are going to hoi an tomorrow though so maybe i'll get one made specifically to my head measurements :-)
Sounds like you've arrived at a heatwave moment. Get those hats-who cares what they look like. Silk embroidery art sounds beautiful, hope those women sharing their car are kosher. Looked up the citadel & it was great-up close with an elephant wow.Looking forward to seeing yr fotos when u get them working.
Ps-thought it too good to be true & Ewens messages have now died away dramatically-thank goodness for you Pieta! Not knocking u Ewen I lurv u son but get typing 2 OK xxx
aagh! this is my third attempt at a comment! haha i keep writing them and then it tells me im not verified! but i should be now so here goes...
glad that you are having a wonderful time, such a totally different culture to our own, you're gonna come home and be offering people $3 to ride you round on their bikes! haha! the silks sound amazing! what a great talking point to hang on your wall! take care honey, i will read and write more next time im online, miss you! xoxxox
Great descriptions Pete keep up the good work. Mark
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