Yesterday I walked down into the Hai Ba Trung District. My apartment is on Hai Ba Trung Street. Hai Ba Trung means two sisters with Ba meaning honored Aunt. This would be the female equivalent of Ho. They apparently resisted the Chinese invasion about 1000 years ago and jumped into the river rather than surrender. The story has a “Remember the Alamo” aspect to it. I had hoped to walk over to their pagoda but places are always further away then you think.
My real purpose was to go the Camel Travel station. Camel buses are designed for overnight travel and have double-decker bunks. I took a picture of the brochure and will try to post so people can see. One of the things you notice is that after you walk a few streets away you are the only Westerner and English is hard to come by. I had been given good direction and had a leisurely walk down the Hue (pronounced Way) street. Often I was in the middle of the repair of the motor bikes or even cars, with the garage being on the street. I got to the street to make my turn and I walked right by it the first time. I walked a little further and decided to pass by the sauna hotel but there was a local café so I stopped. For the price of the coffee I asked for some guidance. I looked up Camel in Vietnamese, lac da and bus di xe buyt and I think they finally knew what I was looking for and told me I had passed by it. I made it there safely and next weekend I will go to Hue, the Imperial City on the Camel. Cuong was a little worried about me getting lost but he will check out my tickets to make sure they are right.
I walked back on different streets with different shops and tried to buy some index cards which I think are just out of style now a days. I did get some nice pictures of construction practices. However, with all this walking I was ready for a good night sleep. I have been able to stay in contact with friends at home and through some creativity got a phone call through to Washington thanks to Marci. This is my third week and really starting to miss family. Plan some work this morning and the visit to a museum this afternoon.
3 comments:
I am pleased to see the camel bus does look a little more modern then I had pictured in my mind. The word Camel did not give me a good feeling. I hope these drivers do better then the Taxi drivers do. Wear your seat belt, oh I am sure they have them. You sure you can't get some one to go with you. Some of the fruit does look weird. Have a good week-end. Mom
I'm confused - did you ride the camel bus or just go to the station?
It's good that your friends in V. are concerned about you but you can take care of yourself too.
The camel buses look really cool. I'd love to find something like that to travel in around Europe.
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