Stray bikers "en passage"

Saturday 27 September 2008

On this day we went to see a few local hostorical sites around Hué, including pagodas, mausoleums, monestaries, nunneries and bridges. We even saw an arena where they used to make tigers fight elephants for the king. Transport was provided by a local with a moped, and our route took us through plenty of back streets and dirt tracks, with local kids smiling a waving to us as we drove past. We even high fived a few while in transit.

The highlight was the monastery where we saw some monks chanting and praying, but the buildings and gardens were beautiful, and I took a bunch of photographs which look like they should be awesome.

The other highlight was the pagoda which was one of the most famous in the area, and place from which in 1967 (I think) one monk who wanted to protest at American interference famously travelled from Hué to Saigon, sat down in the street and meditated in the lotus position, while his fellow monks poured petrol on him and lit him, and he remained there as he burnt to death. You may know the famous image that was taken while he burnt - it formed the cover of the first Rage Against The Machine album.

That afternoon we took it easy and spent the time at the hotel, swimming and eating to recover from the last two days.