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Published: June 11th 2010
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Lie back and relax
This is a country that encourages lethagy Arrived in Hue on June 7th after a 3 hour bus journey on an open tour bus. These are buses that run up and down the length of the country, and they have beds on because most of the journeys are very long. We weren't sure at first but once we settled down they were surprisingly comfortable.
Once again Hue feels different then the other places we have visted in Vietnam. We have had 5 days here but I (Alice) have not found it as exciting as the other places we have been. However as we said in our last blog we accidentally landed here during a festival which is great. There's loads of public artworks in the streets and at night there are stages set up in the old Citadel , so we can pay a couple of dollars to get in, and then walk round the old Imperial City all lit up with candles and lanterns and people having a good time. There is also lots going on at the An Dinh Palace.
It's an international festival so there are musicians and dancers from all over the world. Last night we saw a great Cuban band called
Los Tradicionales, who were very good. The Vietnamese people there didn't get it at first - we were sat next to a young guy who told us he had never heard Cuban music before and that the rhythms were very strange.
It was spoiled a bit by a small group of Western travellers who stood at the front and danced - not ordinarily a problem but they were a bit exhibitionist and were all smoking and drinking when no one else was. All the Vietnamese people were watching them rather than the band - the women were clearly disgusted by the general grubbiness of the travellers and their behaviour.
We spend one afternoon wandering round the Citadel to see it during the day. This is the old Imperial City which was quite badly bombed in the war. Some of the buildings have survived, some have been rebuilt, and others left to crumble. It's quite evocative though and nice to wander round the gardens.
We went on a day trip which was the worst-planned trip ever. It was an all day trip down the river to some temples and tombs. We got to the river at 8am as
Festival costume
He wanted a picture of us, so we asked him to pose for one as well. Alice stole the hat. requested and the boat finally set off at 9am with about 40 people on it. This is the usual way in Vietnam but we keep expecting things to go on time- when will we learn? We then went to watch some Kung Fu fighter displays which was not in the itinarary but of course cost money. I really enjoyed it but Julia was not impressed with the cheekiness of additional extras (Oh how like her dad she is sometimes!). We then went to Thien Mu Pagoda which was unremarkable and much the same as anything other temples we have seen. Next we had lunch on the boat which was rice and green bean- the meat eater were not impressed with this but I was pleased I could eat something. At 1pm the hottest part of the day we arrived at Minh Mang Tomb. This was remarkable and very grand. It was a beautiful place to be but really too hot to fully appreciate. Then the sky opened up and poured down. Me and Julia decided to skip the rest of the tour and get in a mini bus home. All in all not a great trip. However we enjoyed chatting
Citadel
Waiting for the fashion show to begin to some fellow travellers. My advice to any other travellers reading this is do not do the Dragon Boat Tour!
Today we decided to take matters into our own hands and got a taxi to Tu Duc Tomb at 4pm. It was beautiful here and felt very much like being in the countryside. I felt this was a better way to see the tomb. It cost 8 quid for the return journey and for the taxi driver to wait. I would have rather skipped the tour and just seen the two tombs this way.
It is raining at the moment. There was a big storm last night which was exciting to watch from our hotel window but meant we did not go to the festival and instead went to a local bar and chatted to the locals. They thought it was funny that we travelled without a man, liked beer and could talk about football. The rain does not really bother us- it tends to rain for a hour every afternoon and then clear up.
We have been surprised that the food in Vietnam is not spicy at all. The spiciest dish we have had was Italian-
penne all'arrabbiata. The food is not great in Hue and I am looking forward to being back in a bigger city. We think better food is out there somewhere in Hue but Lonely Planet has let us down here after being a great guide for other places.
We are heading to Hanoi tomorrow, the capital of Vietnam. We are going by plane which is really naughty of us but we could not face the 13 hour sleeper bus and found cheap plane tickets for the 1 hour flight. Looking forward to Hanoi - we are going to search out gourmet Vietnamese food!
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