I’m on my own in Hue today while the rest of our group heads out for a day long tour of the DMZ, a couple of hours north of here. I opted out of the trip for a couple of reasons, but mainly it’s because I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days–I’ve been having a low-grade headache and nausea on and off since we got to Hue. One of the physicians in our group (there are 3 practicing doctors and one retired doctor in our group) speculated that all the stressors I’m experiencing–all the new sights, noises (incessant honking!), smells, and foods; the fatigue of traveling from place to place constantly; and the fatigue of being in a big group all the time (I’m a natural introvert and can only take this kind of togetherness for so long before melting down)–have all added up and are causing the headaches. The prospect of a tour hour van ride to the DMZ and then multiple stops throughout the day–piling in and out of the van to see remnants of the American War–just did not appeal to me right now. Maybe we’ll go back on our next trip to Vietnam.
Yesterday, I chilled out in the hotel room for a few hours while Huckleberry ran errands to book upcoming travel reservations and download photos from our camera. I also started popping the pills that the doctor gave me and took them throughout the day to keep the headache at bay. In the afternoon, we ate a lunch prepared by Huckleberry’s cousins at the house where her mother grew up, inside the walls of Hue’s imperial Citadel. After lunch, we climbed the Citadel wall and explored parts of the Citadel that most people don’t get to see. On top of the wall, between the outer and inner walls, there’s an urban vegetable farm growing. There are a lot of such gardens tucked into public spaces in Hue–apparently the government is encouraging them for both personal and commercial purposes. We walked through the farm to the nearest watch tower, which has recently been restored, and enjoyed the view of Hue while Huckleberry’s mother sang a famous song about Hue.
After climbing down the wall, we borrowed two of the cousins’ bikes and pedaled around the Citadel. We didn’t stop to tour the Forbidden City section–for that, we would have had to have parked the bikes and we didn’t have locks. Instead, we just meandered through the neighborhoods, enjoying seeing the city at a slower pace. Lots of little kids greeted us–mostly me, since I’m the more obvious foreigner–with waves and “hellos” and one man on a motor bike helpfully slowed down to ride along side me and cheer me up a small bridge that we were crossing. We returned the bikes and then walked back to the hotel along the Perfume River, a walk that ended up taking almost an hour, and then we headed out for dinner with the group at the Vietnamese equivalent of Medieval Times. By the end of the day, I’d managed to get rid of the headache for good, though I decided that an extra day of relaxation wouldn’t hurt.
I tend to enjoy these outings with Huckleberry more than the full group excursions (there are 11 of us total, including 3 kids from 6 to 16 years old) because they’re usually quieter, we can move at our own pace, and we can take whatever diversions we want to take. There are, of course, advantages to traveling in a large group (cheaper to rent our own drivers and vans, etc) and with family (homecooked meals and insider access, etc). Even so, I need a break every once in a while to recalibrate.
So, today, the group piled onto the bus just before 7 while I lingered in the hotel room. I’ve now had breakfast at the hotel and am comtemplating my plans for the day. I’ll wander over to see the parts of the Citadel that we didn’t go into yesterday. While I walk I’ll be keeping my eyes out for a cafe to sit in for a while to drink some ca phe sua da and catch up on my journal writing. And I’ll almost definitely go next door to the hotel for a massage. I’ll probably be ready for Huckleberry to come back long before she does, but that’s OK.
