Backie
Fuelled and ready to go we borrowed a bike to search for the pagoda 6km away. The bike not only had the one usual seat but another at the rear. This meant we could both fit on together. We headed through the busy streets of Hue, across a narrow bridge, through some major traffic junctions and entered a slightly quieter road. We reached the pagoda in no time and it was worth the effort. A very beautiful structure in picturesque surroundings. There were plenty of tour groups arriving as we headed off to the temple of literature. This however was closed off so we continued along narrow alleyways, through a cemetery and on to visit another pagoda.
Our route back took us through a smaller village and along the river on a new path before a lunch stop.
The restaurant owner spoke English well and we tried a few things that we hadn't seen before. One was a khoai cake and the other a ram it cake. They were both savoury and quite unusual with some great tasting soup and sauce to add to them, all washed down with some jasmine tea.
We crossed the narrow bridge again. This time we opted for the pavement to cross the bridge because there is not a lot of space with all of the motorbikes. We arrived back home from our adventure on the bike and relaxed.
When our hosts arrived home we shared a wonderful family meal with them, with all fresh produce from their family farm. After dinner we walked down to the river and sat and people watched whilst drinking fresh coconut juice. On the way back home we picked up some Vietnamese sweet soup - bananas in a sweet syrup with coconut and coconut milk, very tasty.
