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The quiet country lanes and picturesque monuments make Hue an ideal place for cycling. The tile-roofed Thanh Toan Bridge is not only an ancient architectural remain with highly historic and cultural values but also a tourist attraction. The bridge was built over 2 centuries ago and damaged many times by storms, floods and wars. However, after the bridge was destroyed, the villagers always contributed to repair, renovate and preserve it. The Thanh Toan bridge with its tile-roof has entered into the moods and aspirations of many generations as well as inspired the poetic souls of the local people and travellers, their contents are still handed down among the people or engraved right on the bridge. In September 1991, the bridge was greatly renovated according to the old design and officially accepted by the Cultural Ministry as a national remains, a rare and appreciated beauty-spot of the whole country.
Highlight: Boating, walking and cultural experience
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Itinerary in Detail : |
We visit the Hue Citadel and Imperial City, which will take us about 2 hours and a half. Then we board our dragon boat for a cruise upstream the legendary Perfume River. Along the way, we stop for Thien Mu pagoda, then continue to the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside where we find the elaborate mausoleum of emperor Tu Duc & Khai Dinh. Enjoy lunch with specialties at a local garden restaurant (note: this half day we go by car & boat).
In mid-afternoon leave the center of Hue and its historic buildings for a bicycle ride through the rice plantations and the bucolic Vietnamese countryside to the Thanh Toan Village, located eight kilometers away. The village shelters a covered bridge dating back more than two centuries; offered to the villagers by the wife of a high ranking Mandarin. Continue along the river with its banks dotted with temples. At the edge of the river banks the mothers wash their linen while their children are biking back home from school, many who will be astonished to see Westerners lost in this corner of countryside
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