Dragon Boat Adventure

I am now in Hue, Vietnam.  There are Dragon Boats all along the river.  In the morning I was to take a Dragon Boat ride up the river to visit a Kings temple and grave site.

It had been raining so much and the wind was up some.  When I arrived on the boat, all the window seats were take and I decided to go to the front of the boat where the captain was driving the boat.

Now, this was not the dragon boat like the one in Oriental.   This boat had two dragon forms on each side and there was roof covering the boat and there were roofs on top of the covering with all kinds of decorations point up and out.

Of, course I speak NO Vietnamese, so I nodded to the man running the boat.  He motioned he was staying to the side of the river, because of the swift currents.  Going up river we went under the first bridge.  I motion a sigh of relief that we made it under the bridge without hitting the bridge.

The "captain" laugh, motioning  no to worry......Going along the water got swifter and fast.....

The captain said the 3rd bridge was the one to be concerned about......now, you must remember the captain speaks no English and I do not speak Vietnamese.

As we entered the 3 bridge, we were scrapping the top of the dragon boat with the bottom the bridge.
The captain motioned for all the people to come to the front of the boat to lower the front of the boat. Now, here all all these people rushing to the front of the boat, as the scrapping got louder and louder as the captain was giving all the gas he could and the noise got so very loud.  And to make things more hectic, the train crossed the bridge above us.

I could see the roof of the boat crumbling and cracking.  At one point, I could see thru the cracked roof.

And it happened, the boat got stuck under the bridge, as it drew us all forward.   OMG, the boat was stuck and the captain threw the boat in reverse and the noise started again and all the little ornaments
were being bent down and the roof was being crumbled.

    Here is the boat hitting the bridge

 Here are the pictures of the boat getting stuck under the bridge.  Not to understand a word, I got it....we were not going to take the dragon boat to the temple.   The Vietnamese people do not give up, the captain finally maneuvered back and forth and got the boat out.  He banked the boat in the river brush, tied the boat to a tree, called our bus.

Now, here are all these people wadding through the brush, going thru a muddy park, crossing a busy highway to get on the bus.

Not to speak the language, I got it and so did the captain......

What an adventure

Enjoy