May 26 2008

Trip Start Feb 16, 2008
1
87
112
Trip End ??? ??, 2009


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Vietnam  ,
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Today is our first day in Hue.  We woke up early to go for our included breakfast which turned out not too bad.  They have some Vietnamese food, mmm morning spring rolls, fruit, toast, tea, coffee and you can order some fresh eggs.  After we finished and Jes had officially spilt his coffee all over the place (darn small tables), we headed in the direction of the citadel.  We had to make our way along the main street, le Loi, in our area to the nearest bridge over the river.  One thing I love about Vietnam is the scenery, the country is beautiful, as are the rivers.  It is so hot here in Hue we were really sweating by the time me got across the bridge. We then had to cross the moat around the citadel area. On our way toward the imperial enclosure we stumbled upon the general military museum.  It was really quiet, so we just looked at the tanks and guns they had out front, they all seemed to be from the North Vietnamese army.  We continued on our way and soon came to the wall of the imperial city, which is a citadel inside the citadel View from our balcony
View from our balcony
 .  The citadel itself was heavily bombed by the Americans, today it is only part of the city.  The imperial palace was where the emperor carried out his official duties and functions.  The main gate, NgoMon gate,  was where the emperor gave up his power to the Communist army.  There were a couple elephants on the grounds that people could ride on, knowing what we know about the elephant from our trek in Chiang Mai, it just seems wrong.  We saw the theatre and the emperors old quarters, much of which was in rough shape, being held up by poles.  There was the purple forbidden city inside the grounds, which was being reconstructed as well.  We saw a lot of crumbling houses, most of which were like that from the war.  Some beautiful ruins.  The grounds were hard to navigate, since we didn't have a map and it is quite a large area.  The heat started to get to us and the very over priced water was not doing the trick.  So after walking around the grounds for about 3 hours we headed out another gate of the main moat to the citadel.  There were some huge cannons by the gate, we aren't sure how old they were.  After leaving the citadel area we stumbled upon a ice cream shop, so we binged on some water, had some mango ice cream and cooled down by the fan.  Then we made our way back to our area, near where we had been dropped off after our bus ride.  We found a café that is in Lonely Planet, Mini Friend restaurant and had some late lunch.  They had really good Vietnamese noodles and cheap beer, which was nice in the heat View from our balcony - 2
View from our balcony - 2
 .  We then headed back to the hotel, trying to find some tour agents on our way, there aren't many. Hue's tourism is still young and it shows.  We were pretty drained so we hung out at the hotel and watched a movie.  We decided to go to the Indian restaurant near by for dinner.  It wasn't the best we've had, but their naan bread was great.  We went to the Friendly café, not to be confused with the earlier friend restaurant, and had a drink.  We were still pretty tired from walking all day, so we decided to head back and watch another movie.  Lazy I know.  Ciao for now!
 
 
Zoe
Slideshow Print this entry Hue hotels

Table of Contents

Start your own travel blog View all 112 entries from this travel blog»