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Our last stop on our Vietnam tour. Unfortunately we havent got enough time to make it up to Hanoi or Halong Bay as Mum and Peter have to be back in Bangkok on the 5th to fly back home and we are flying to Cambodia to meet our friend Emma who is coming over for a 2 week holiday.
We wanted to make it as far north as we possibly could, so decided to take a bus to Hue (pronounced Hway). It was a pretty uneventful journey apart from having to stop half way because the coach had a flat tyre, we bought some custard cakes which came in a huge box. They were so horrible that even a poor little boy who was begging tried one and spat it out and gave the other one back to me! After that it was about another hour and a half to Hue.
We were meant to be dropped at the main bus stop in the city but the driver dropped everyone off at a hotel, where we were pestered to take a room. Luckily we'd already booked one and paid a deposit, and arranged a free pickup
with the hotel. I asked the receptionist if she would ring the hotel we'd booked and tell them where we were, she told me we had to pay 5000 Dong per minute for the phone call. At this point I'd had enough so told her there was no way I was paying anything for the phone call as it wasnt our fault they were trying to make money and got the bus to drop us off there. She kind of just shrugged and thankfully called our hotel to come and collect us.
The hotel we are staying at (Hue Holiday Hotel) is beautiful. The staff are so friendly and helpful, our rooms had rose petals and roses on the bed and it is very clean. All for £10 a night, would definitely recommend to anyone coming to stay in Hue.
We all took showers and then headed out to find something to eat and then headed for bed at around 10:30pm.
We woke up feeling really refreshed after a lovely sleep in our big comfy beds, had a simple but yummy breakfast downstairs the headed out on to the streets out Hue to see what the city
had to offer.
Hue is known for it's history in Vietnam. The city surrounds the Perfume River and on the north side is the Citadel, the residence of the former Emperors, along the river and throughout the nearby country side and tombs and pagodas which make for some good sightseeing.
On our first day we thought we would start with the main attraction, being the Citadel. We had heard good things about it and were really pleased to have gone there as it was absolutely beautiful.
Unfortunately some of the inner parts were destroyed by the Americans during the war, but the outer walls, moat, palace and some buildings were still in tact so you could really get the feel for what it must of been like 100+ years ago.
We wandered around for an hour or so and left through the entrance on the opposite side to which we had entered.
Looking at the map we thought we would go to the market, the sun was really beating down on us so we all jumped in a taxi and he took us there. The market was mainly indoors, we didnt get very far as
there were so many stalls and sellers everywhere you could hardly move and it made it really claustrophobic. So we decided to walk outside where people were selling fruit and vegetables, it was so smelly so we quickly hurried through and headed back over the bridge to the south side of the river and planned to get on a boat to one of the pagodas about 4km down the river.
A boat man had seen us earlier that morning and we had said we would come back so he did us a good deal and we got a return journey on a 'dragon' boat with just the 4 of us down to Thien Mu Pagoda.
The pagoda was beautiful, originally founded in the 1600's, it is set on the side of the river up a steep flight of stone steps and surrounded by enormous pine trees. It was very peaceful and calm as I think we had missed most of the tour buses, there were a few Asian tourists there and lots of monks walking around in their grey robes.
In a small roofed building is an Austin car which was used to take a monk to
Saigon for a protest in the 1960's. It wasnt an normal protest though, the monk (Thich Quang Duc) sat on a busy road in Saigon and set himself on fire and slowly burnt to death. He was protesting against the persecution of Buddhist from the current government.
Leaving the sadness of the car story behind we went further into the grounds of the pagoda and were rewarded with stunning views over the river and the mountains in the background.
Back down to the boat and another 45 minutes later we were back at the port where we'd originally got on the boat.
Day 2 in Hue, we organised a 7 seater taxi to take us all to the 3 most famous tombs in Hue.
Each tomb has the remains of a different Emperor from years gone by. We started off with a visit to the Tomb of Minh Mang who ruled from 1820 to 1840. We walked along a dirt road for a few minutes and then came to a huge stone gate, once inside the gate there was a large courtyard with stone figures of elephants, horses, the Emperors Minstrels and his Eunuchs. The Eunuchs
were the only people allowed to know where the Emperor was actually buried as they buried him themselves, once they had finished they were all beheaded as not to tell anyone else.
In front of us there was a great stone building which was the Sung An Temple, a temple dedicated to the Emperor and Empress. Once we went through the temple and down the stone steps on the other side, there were 3 bridges, the bridge in the centre is made from marble and we were told that only the Emperor was allowed to cross on this one. Across the bridge there was another large stone building, the Minh Lau Pavillion, the building was beautiful as was the whole area. Surrounding the whole place were pine trees and a beautiful lake. At this point it had started to rain so Phil and Peter stayed in the Pavillion and Mum and I carried on over another bridge and up more steps. We didnt realise until we got there and read the board that this was where the Emperor was actually buried, in front of us was a huge gate with a think chain and padlock on either side a
really high wall. You could see over the top as on the other side was a hill. Under this hill is an underground palace and the remains of Emperor Minh Mang, the gate was until recently opened once a year to celebrate his birthday but for some unexplained reason this doesnt happen anymore.
After getting a bit wet, we sung our way back to the taxi with 'Singing in the Rain' and made our way to the next tomb.
Next on the list was the Tomb of Khai Dinh who ruled from 1916 to 1925, this was Mum, Peter's and Phil's favourite tomb. We had to climb up alot of steps to get to the top, the first flight of steps led to the Honour Courtyard where there were two Pavillions. The buildings for the whole area of the tomb are all made from blackened concrete, although the buildings were only built in the 1920's-1930's it looked so much older. Once you climbed up the next flight of steps, leading up to the tomb, you could look out over the mountains in the distance with a huge white Buddha at the top of one of them. We all
went inside the tomb, which was absolutely beautiful. It was completely covered with tile mosaics of all different pictures, you then walked through to the back where the Emperors remains are underneath a life size gold statue of him 18metres below.
We sloshed about in the rain getting to the bottom of the Tomb and got in the nice dry taxi. The sandles I had made in Hoi An have broken slightly, the sole that was glued on the bottom has started to peel off (easily fixed) so the taxi man leant me his shoes, luckily he had big feet so they fitted my nicely!!
Driving through the small villages surrounding the temples we noticed that people on either side of the road were making incense sticks, there were so many. All in bright colours, being made by hand. Incense sticks are very popular in Asia as they are burnt at the Pagodas and Temples in their hundreds.
A 10 minutes journey and we had made it to our last tomb of the day.
The Tomb of Tu Duc was built in the 1800's. This tomb is the biggest of all, and our taxi drivers favourite
and also mine. We noticed, however, that a Vietnamese lady bought 4 tickets with 50,000 Dong and received 10,000 Dong change. We have to pay 55,000 Dong per Tomb per person, seems a bit unfair but it seems to happen in so many places we have been to so we just have to grin and bear it!
Once you walked through the first gate the first thing you see is a lake, which makes it way into a stream. The lake and stream were full of giant lili pads and on one side of the pond was a Pavilion over the water where the Emperor would sit with his many concubines writing poetry (that he is famous for in Vietnam).
Opposite the lake and Pavilion is a temple where the Emperor and Empress used to worship, Phil and I walked all around the back of the building and also saw the living quarters for the concubines. Im guessing these definitely wernt as plush as Tu Duc's living quarters, a guide told us that he was the longest reigning Emperor and apparently led a life of pure luxury.
Phil, Mum and Peter stayed near the lake whilst I
followed the stream round the side of the temple to the actual burial place of the Emperor. There were about 2 coach loads of tourists there though so it ruined it a little bit as every time I wanted to take a photo they would jump in front of me, the surroundings were so beautiful though I managed to cross some river like puddles and take a look.
We got back in the taxi and came back to the hotel, Mum and Peter had bought me a birthday cake as they arent going to be here for my birthday. So we had a mini celebration with the cake and some balloons, I felt like the Queen 😊
Our last day in Hue was spent at a 4 star hotel in their outdoor pool, swimming and sunbathing. Until it started to rain, so we retreated to a cafe Phil and I had been in the day before and got some lunch.
The rest of the day we stayed in our room sorting out our bags and ditching stuff we haven't used in ages, Mum and Peter went to the market and then we all went out for dinner
to Missy Roo's restaurant. The food wasn't great, well mine wasn't anyway but it was ok the chocolate mousse dessert made up for it!!
We are leaving for Danang tomorrow (Saturday 3rd July), unfortunately we couldn't all get on the train as the seats were fully booked, so Mum and Peter are getting a bus and Phil and I are taking the train.
We are then in Danang for a few hours, where we have booked a hotel just for the day to dump our bags and have a shower. Our flight back to Saigon leaves at 9:30pm we arrive there late and then fly back to Bangkok early the next day, mum and Peter fly back to London on the 5th and we head over to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the 6th to meet up with Emma.
Our Route So Far
Kuala Lumpur - Ipoh - Tanah Rata (Cameron Highlands) - Perhentian Kecil - Kota Bharu - Kuala Lumpur - Kuching (Malaysian Borneo) - Kota Kinabalu (Malaysian Borneo) - Kuching (Malaysian Borneo) - Kuala Lumpur - Melaka - Bangkok - Hi Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Dalat - Danang - Hoi An - Hue
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Dorothy Ann Holmans
non-member comment
Thank you
am having a wonderful time with you on your holiday, just wish I was with you! xx