The abandoned water park of Hue

The title couldn't be more revealing. It is this park that my new best friend Hynek and I visit on a Friday in this city of Vietnam.

Hynek, my favorite Czech.

Definitely, Hue has a lot to offer to tourists who set foot there. Some fifteen kilometers outside the city is a water park that was only open for a few years and was subsequently abandoned as is to nature and vandalism.

It is under a fine and steady rain that my new friend Hynek and I go there.

Hynek has shared his life for several years between the Czech Republic, his country of origin where he is completing his doctorate in environment, and the region of Hue in Vietnam, where his research is based. Its noble goal: to improve agricultural operations in developing countries.

The Park

The park, officially called Ho Thuy Thien, was first opened in 2004. However, construction was not yet complete when it was decided to immediately begin to monetize the initial investment of US $ 3 million. The park has never been very popular with people who often cannot swim, and tourists who have already seen a lot better. The slides will close their doors just a few years after their opening.

It must be said that despite its large territory, the water park contained just a few slides that I would describe as fairly basic. However, it is in the center of the small lake that we find the piece de resistance: an artificial island with a huge concrete dragon leaning on a flying saucer (?!).

Inside the dragon are other small sculptures of marine animals and space travel!

Vietnamese in Hue told me that they believe the park is now more visited by tourists and locals than when it was open. And the crumbling places make it seem like many of these tours are aimed at graffiti or destroying structures. Sad to see, although some graffiti is quite successful.

Friendship

This day spent with Hynek - and so many others during my month in Hue - made me reflect on friendship. Like you, wherever you are, I meet hundreds of people every day on this journey. I speak with many of them, and sometimes the conversations go beyond the banalities of everyday life to make room for real sharing.

I think to my favorite Czech that we would probably have been great friends if we had attended the same school. I have this impression that friendship is often born of chance and closeness in life. Our very young best friend is our next door neighbor, then our bus companions, and the other person just as lost as us on the first day of high school.

Finally, we create memories over these years of closeness, and it is these memories that form the real foundations of long friendship.

Hynek and I take the road to Hue, like two kids on his motorbike. When dropping me off at my hotel, he asks me "Hey man, are you available tomorrow to go to the acoustic café?" ". I smile and nod. I'm always up for collecting souvenirs.

A stunning effect!