Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Perfume River Dragon Boat Ride

 

I usually would not pay for river cruise or boat rides on my holiday, not even a gondola in Venice cause I don't really know how to appreciate a boat ride. But in our one day tour package, a dragon boat ride down the Perfume River was included, so that was a bonus for me! Side note, I always thought what a lovely name Perfume River was, imagining that it would be filled with fragrance of flowers by the river side or something. In real life, it's just a yellow water looking river. No perfume scent at all. The dragon boat, however, was pretty neat!

Our boat coming into the jetty just across the pier at the pagoda entrance. Would you be worried about safety looking at this boat? Can I swim? Are there life jackets on board? Many a times when I am travelling, I often wondered about the risk I put myself in, from the money I purchase a flight ticket, to the hotels I stayed in, and the tours I take and every transit..... All the worst scenarios ran through my head. But I still always take the trip, because if we live in fear, we will never leave our home, would we?

It was such a pretty rustic sight to see the simple boat floating on the yellow river. Simple, and quite calming. A simple way of life.

Our guide waved us to the pier where she was waiting for us. And slowly, one by one we went abroad the wooden boat. We were going to take the boat back up to where the Imperial City was, perhaps around a 30minute boat ride. 

Here is what the interior looked like. As you can see, no life jacket was required. The plastic chairs we sat on were probably placed there for our convenience. The locals would probably just sat on the floor of the boat. There was no air con, but the breeze blowing in was cool enough.

As the boat pulls out from the pier, we could see the wider view of the pagoda, which I thought, looked a lot prettier from this angle. It was as if built specifically for people to visit it by boat instead of by road. 

If we zoomed in, we could see many people taking photographs outside the pagoda. Some where standing on the stairs from the pier area.

Vietnamese ladies love dressing up and taking photographs. And they are proud to wear their traditional clothes out too. Here was a striking bright red lady sitting by the river having her photos taken. If you go to Vietnam city on a weekend, or other instagram-able location, it would be filled with ladies all dressed up, some even with flowers in their hand, all ready to pose and take photos. Usually a boyfriend with a handphone, or a professional photographers would be following them around. 

As the boat left the pagoda area, we soon see villages along the river, some with fisherman's boat, or netting hung around the area. We could also see some of the people just hanging out by the river. It was a very relaxing scene, and the warm air adds to the sleepy atmosphere. 

Here is a photo of fishing boats or nets? I can't really tell as they looked so small a far. 

Local people just relaxing by the river as our boat passes by. What a simple life. I wonder if I was ever like that when I was younger and living in a small town in Malaysia?

But all too soon, a massive concrete bridge came into sight, and we more or less knew we were back at the city area. 

The boat actually went under the bridge! No wonder all the boats were built so short in height. I guess no big ships can come near the imperial city then, unless the bridge can be open up!

The sight of the yellow bridge once we went pass it. It was massive! And wide.