Saturday, December 19, 2009

Hue and bamboo umbrella hats

I would just like to begin this post by noting that I rarely stereotype countries and their people (this comes after defending Aus's reputation on an international front for many years). However in saying this there are certain times when countries and people really do fit their stereotypes. When many people think of Vietnam they think of ladies running around with those bamboo shoulder sticks wearing those cool umbrella hats. This is a total stereotype... But that's exactly what they wear!! Awesome.. huh! And they aren't just putting on a show for the tourists either... no no!! They are wearing this kit all over the country; On farms, in the city, riding bicycles etc.


Anyway, enough distractions! So after Hanoi I went to the small city of 'Hue,' Which has a lot of history and is interesting if you are really interested in the American War or the previous Vietnamese rules of the past few decades. My interest in the previous issues is merely lukewarm, so I opted to only spend a day in the town in order to have a quick look and nothing else. That's pretty much exactly what I did. I saw the Citadel, I visited the market and I peered into the scetchy looking 'Perfume River' and then I left. I did also find time for another cooking class though, which was fun because it was just me and it ended up being a private lesson! My favourite part of the lesson was when my tiny little Vietnamese cooking teacher threw me on the back of her scooter and took me to the market. It must have looked rather strange... Like she was my little scooter slave or something. On the return I threw her on the back though and listened to her scream in my ear the whole time like I was going to get us both killed. But the lesson was fun! I can now make Kick-arse spring rolls!

1 comment:

  1. So jealous of the spring roll skillz, we'll have to bone up on ours in Vietnam too.

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