Hue Adventures, Water & Sights

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We seen some sights in Hoi An.....with all the water and all! We heard reports from our hotel in Hanoi that we shouldn't go because it was raining and it was flooded, but hey we don't mind a little water. Once we had got off our plane, boarded bus, found our hotel and checked in we needed a drink and a bite to eat so we walked down the street with all the locals and enjoyed a cold beer and a few cocktails.

How were we going to see Hue in only one day? By car of course so Paul booked us a car to take us around to all the "sights" in Hue for $45 (no guide, just a driver). We thought that was pretty good otherwise we really won't get to see anything. He also booked us a car for the following day to drive us to Hoi An. It started to pour rain so we had to brave it in our rain coats and thongs and head out for dinner that at the DMZ Bar. There was "buy 3 cocktails and get 1 FREE"!! So......being alchos we are....bottoms up!! lol Man for a little glass there was a big punch!! We were pretty drunk by the time we got back to the hotel and we just hit the pillow!

The next morning we found that it had rained all night and at breakfast we met a French guy called Julian who asked if he could tag along for the day and we said, "why not"! He's had a bit of rough trot with an eye tumor and he was a nice guy and very well travelled. So we set off to our first destination....Duc Duc Tomb. With the misty rain setting the sceen it was a really beautiful place to visit first up. The little buildings and the big temples it really was just so beautiful and words or photos really can't do it justice. Poor Paul slipped over walking down some very wet old brick steps and really hurt he neck, so much so that he had to move his whole body to look at something....poor thing!!

Mihn Mang Tomb was a bit wet and when I say that....check out the photo of just getting there! We had to wade througth knee high deep water in places just to get there but the statues were really cool.

The next stop was the Khai Dinh Tomb.....wow.....just so beautiful! The architecture was gorgeous, the layout was gorgeous and just everything was gorgeous. Even the roof was a stunning murial. (This was were the Amazing Race Australia came to do a show!!)

Thien Mu Pagoda was nice and there were some awesomee characters throughout the place that were a bits scary! This place was nice but nothing like Khai Dinh Tomb.

Citadel on the other hand.....what an amazing place this must have been in it's day. All the old buildings and ruins that make up this place is definately one to go and visit. You will need a good 2.5 hours to look at everything but we did it in 1.5 hours. There are some amazing monuments and artifacts still in mint condition like the these huge brass tubs. You really have to see it to believe it!

We got back to the hotel for a much needed shower and we then headed out for dinner with Julian for our last night in Hue. We talked about our adventures during that day and how it was perfect weather which really wasn't meant to be.

Our car came at 9am the next moring and we were still trying to find somewhere to stay in Hoi An....oh well the driver will just have to wait. We booked a beach resort hotel and set off to see a few sights along the way. The mountain pass was very beautiful (so Paul tells me) it didn't do me any favours.....I felt a bit sick!! There is a tunnel pass which is 6kms or 20kms around it. We took that later option and it took us well over half an hour. We visited some American war bunkers and got mobbed by the local village ladies to "you buy, you buy"!! So we had to buy something to get them to leave us alone! We also visited Marble Mountain....that's pretty impressive with the temples and pagodas, but we are now pretty over seeing them so it was a short visit. The locals here are pretty persistant and things are certainly not cheap to buy!
We stopped off in a few other places that weren't that interesting. And finally made it to Hoi An.

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