Hue.
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2008
1
15
41
Trip End
Aug 2009
Hue,
Vietnam
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
We arrive in Hue,a former capital of Vietnam and again meet the rain. This time it's not tropical rain, it's good ol' British rain. Cold, wet and driving!
We adorn our Goretex protection and head to the Citadel, the walled city built in 1805. Here is housed the Forbidden Purple City, the royal residence where the Emperor lived with his many wives and concubines.
The place is heavily bomb damaged, much of it in ruins.
The next day we hire two motorbikes and riders and go on a wet tour of the many tombs and temples that surround Hue.
We see the Tomb of Tu Duc, a poetic Emperor with 104 wives and 3000 concubines. He enjoyed 50 course meals while sat by the lake recuperating. He probably needed them!
The Tomb of Khai Dinh is less attractive, more austere.
We catch the morning prayers at the Buddhist Tu Hieu pagoda. The place is exactly the tranquil setting that you would imagine. The Thien Mu pagoda is more imposing, with a vantage point high above the Perfume river. It's from here that the monk Thich Quang Duc went to Saigon and publicly burned himself to death as a protest against the then President. His Austin car is now housed at the pagoda.
We also visit one of the many US bunkers, dug-in to the hillside high above the city, giving them views across the valley and the river.
The tour on the bikes is good fun. We get in the middle of the manic Vietnam traffic and see villages that the bus and boat tours miss. We still manage to avoid buying the many hawked souvenirs.
We write this sat in an internet cafe, waiting to catch another night bus to the capital Hanoi. The journey will be 12 hours!
Fingers crossed there are no qualifying rounds for the Vietnamese Snoring Championships in Hanoi this weekend.
