Hue

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After a painless 5 hour bus journey we arrived in Hue. Once again we stayed at the hotel that we were dropped at (Not very hardcore backpacker we know but cuts down on the pain of finding somewhere else at that time in the morning). After emptying our bags and giving them all our laundry to do, we wandered over to the Indian next door for lunch.

We then decided to do some sightseeing, but proceeded to walk for a good half hour before realising that we were heading in the wrong direction and leaving the city. We eventually located the bridge and crossed over to the Citadel. Hue was the capital of Vietnam up until 1945. We then visited the rather biased war museum, which once again had some interesting displays but was not very informative.

After that we went into the Royal Enclosure by the Ngo Mon Gate. The enclosure within the Purple Forbidden City consists of a large number of small constructions and quite a large empty space where there lies remains of some of the buildings that have not been restored. After walking around the enclosure, we headed back out the gates and stopped to check out the giant flag tower (its 37m tall!).

That evening we organised a DMZ tour, before having some dinner and relaxing in front of the T.V.

We were up at 6am for our tour. We were on the bus for about 2 hours before it stopped for breakfast. We then headed to Khe Sanh Combat Base, which was the site of a famous siege during the war. There is now a small museum there, as well as some tanks, aircrafts and old bunkers. We then visited the Vinh Moc Tunnels, which were lived in by the Vietnamese during the war. We were given a tour inside the passageways, which were a lot easier to walk around than the Cu Chi Tunnels in Ho Chi Minh. The reason they are bigger is because entire families lived in these tunnels for much of the war only surfacing to farm and collect food.

On our way back to the city we stopped off at Ben Hau River which was the former border between North and South Vietnam. We also stopped at the Ho Chi Minh Trail bridge once part of the famous supply trail used by the Vietcong.

That evening we had some dinner and organised a bus for the next day.

Next Stop Hanoi...

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Photos

DMZ - Ben Hai River
Looking Back From The Northside

Ngo Mon Gate
The Front Of Thai Hoa Palace

Inside The Forbidden Purple City
The Imperial Enclosure

Ciaran In Front Of The Flag Tower
If its one thing the Communists are good at its making really big flags.

A Family Room
The Vinh Minh Tunnels Were Lived In During The War.