The
song Remember Ha Noi’s Autumn by late composer Trinh Cong Son has inspired
Saigontourist to design a tour of the city’s beautiful locations mentioned in
the lyrics.

Touring in the rain: Foreign tourists enjoy walking along Hue city’s Trang Tien Bridge in light rain. Local authorities and travel agencies are thinking hard to design tours targeting Hue’s rainy days.

“Ha Noi in autumn with
yellow-leafed Celtis sinensis, red-leafed tropical almonds . . . small lanes
perfumed by milky pines, old houses with brown mossy roofs, West Lake with
flocks of Eurasian coot flying to the sun . . .,” the song says.

Nguyen Duc Thanh, 67,
who has taken the tour says it is both romantic and has deep cultural meanings.

“It has not only
satisfied tourists’ desires to explore the capital, but also introduced in the
most vivid and realistic way the city’s tangible and intangible cultural
spaces,” Thanh says.

He wonders why Hue
travel agencies do not design a tour in Hue’s rainy season based on the theme
Old Flame, after another song by the same musician about his first love.

“It rains hard and
long over the old tower . . .,” says the song.

Tourists may visit the
famed musician’s house by Phu Cam Bridge, where he used to watch the small road
on the other side of the An Cuu River through a curtain of rain “over small tree
leaves”.

Columns of trees,
narrow roads and ancient towers in the rain are all mentioned in Son’s song,
redolent of his feelings and memories of Hue. This will lure tourists to a Hue
Old Flame tour as they were attracted to the Remember Ha Noi’s Autumn tour,
Thanh says.

While the rest of the
country has two seasons – wet and dry – the central province of Thua Thien-Hue
also has two seasons – heavy rainy and light rainy.

Hue’s heavy rainy
season starts in September with widespread flooding and lasts till December.
Drizzling rains then continues till April, when the summer thunderstorms arrive.

Royal treatment: Tourists visit one of Hue’s royal palaces. (Photos: VNA/VNS)

The Hue area is at the
junction of climates of the North and South. The average rainfall in the whole
province is 2,700mm.

While locals may look
on such continuous rain as a disadvantage to the area’s economic development,
artists regard the rain as heaven’s gift.

“Hue’s rain is a way
of playing guitar by the heaven, a combination of fragile and abnormal clashes,”
writes author Nguyen Xuan Hoang, “Rains can be as quiet as whispers over the
leaves, as far as an old tale and as uproarious as laughter. Hue’s rain is as
mysterious as a human.”

Writer Hoang Phu Ngoc
Tuong says to see Hue in a vaporous blanket of rain is to comprehend the
innermost feelings of the people.

Painter Vo Xuan Huy, a
teacher at the Hue Fine Arts College, admits that the blur and no clear borders
in his paintings are the unconscious influence of Hue’s rain.

Huy says it might be
the same with music, with deep melodies inspired by the sorrowful sound of
continuous rain.

Researcher Nguyen Thu
Hanh, who chairs the Scientific Union for Developing Sustainable Tourism, has
recently proposed that Hue’s rain be turned into a unique tourism product.

“Rain curbs outdoor
activities while at the same time nurturing indoor entertainment,” Hanh says.
“Tourists have more time to get closer to one another, to meditate, enjoy music,
poetry and drink tea or coffee.”

Union members have put
forward some ideas for tourism products that can be exploited during the rainy
season.

These include visiting
suitable destinations, tours along the Huong River with stops to view the
scenery like Vong Canh Hill, Ngu Phung Tower (at Ngo Mon Gate), the peak of Ngu
Binh Mountain and high-rise hotels along the Huong River.

They have proposed a
system of hotels and cafes, with decor to suit the environment, offering
suitable atmospheres and spaces for watching the rain and enjoying its profound
pleasures.

Indoor activities
could include the likes of poetry readings, musical performances, exhibitions
and cooking or painting classes while pagodas and gardens could meet the demand
for meditation.

The wet season is a
good time to enjoy Hue’s complicated cuisine and increase the sale of the likes
of umbrellas, traditional bamboo conical hats and raincoats, they say.

The director of
Vietnamtourism’s branch in Hue, Nguyen Thi Kim Binh, says tours designed with
rain themes are more suitable to small groups of tourists.

“Taking care of
tourists in the rain requires proper organisation,” she says. “My branch
receives big groups. Not many foreign tourists have a specific urge to drink
coffee in the rain.”

Tran Tien Dat, from
the Sales Department of Hue Travel, admits the proposal has merits. The company
has been in operation for 20 years but has no specific tour designed for the wet
season.

“From now on we may
take advantage of the rain, to keep tourists longer rather than letting them go
to other destinations when it rains,” he says.

Ngo Hoa, deputy
chairman of Thua Thien-Hue People’s Committee, agrees that tourism might be the
economic sector to take advantage of the rain.

He tells of his own
experience of the serious flood in 2007, when he saw tourists at Hue’s Century
Hotel swimming in the pool watching the rain on the river bank.

“They told me it was
interesting to see fierce streams running in the Huong River,” he recalls.

“The wet season is
also a high tourism season in Hue, when luxury hotels are fully booked, mostly
by westerners and Hue’s temperature of 150C is still warm enough. Many told me
they liked the rain.”

Hoa says he will ask
the local culture department to consider the proposal, and will consult tourism
enterprises to help authorities further exploit tourism in the rainy season.

“Of course, the State
should be responsible for completing infrastructure while local authorities and
enterprises will design the product.”

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News