Hue - home of the Nguyen Dynasty

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Our trip from Cat Ba island to Hue was not as straight forward as we had hoped. First our bus was late and we knew we were fairly tight on time anyway. Then we were put onto a rather overcrowded boat rather than the rapid hydrofoil of our journey there. Thankfully that safely deposited us on the other side and we were herded onto a bus to Haiphong where we were hassled for coffee and snacks. Having declined them both for the umpteenth time, we were told there would be a 20 minute wait for our bus to Hanoi. Not swayed by this, we stood our ground and didn't order anything. Lo and behold, a minute later the bus arrived! The two and a half hour ride to Hanoi took a little longer than planned because our bus suffered a massive blow-out just 30km short of its destination. The clock was ticking for us as we limped into a garage and changed the tyre. To speed things up we were put onto a passing bus, but that meant sitting on tiny plastic stools in the aisle. The joy of travelling on a budget! Anyway, we made it to Hanoi's bus station then walked down the road away from the rip-off taxis inside the grounds of the bus station. We hopped into a cab and battled with the rush hour traffic across the capital to collect our train tickets. With those safely in hand we had a 15 minute walk to the train station and just enough time to grab a sandwich before boarding. Our tickets were not quite what we expected. We had the top bunks in a 6-berth cabin. That's the top of three! It was quite a climb and there was not enough room to sit up. We even had to eat our chicken porridge soup laying on our sides. There were seven people in our compartment for six, but the little person sharing a bottom bunk with his mother was actually cute, friendly and made no noise during the night at all. 15 hours into our 13 hour journey we finally arrived in Hue where a short taxi ride took us to our hotel.

Now, normal people would probably have wanted a snooze at this stage. Sleep comes in short bursts on a train and we were tired. Instead we had a shower and headed out to see the Citadel and Royal Palace.

Our hotel, the Sports Hotel, was located on the uber-touristy Pha Nhu Lao Street. It was only a stone's throw from the Perfume River so we walked along the bank past the sculpture garden before crossing over the old bridge which is illuminated in all sorts of garish colours at night. On the other side we made our way towards the Citadel fighting off would be guides and cyclo (rickshaw) drivers by the dozen. On our way we came across some guys stripping sugar cane ready for the street vendors to turn into super sickly juice. We also passed the small military museum with plenty of tanks and artillery in the garden plus a few aeroplanes from the War.

We failed spectacularly to find the entrance, instead finding one of the exit gates, this one intricately decorated. A Vietnamese couple were posing there for wedding photos and I'm sure they will be delighted with the number if tourists in the background. We carried on following the water lotus filled moats past the enormous flag pole and finally we were where we needed to be.

Despite the extensive ongoing restorations, it's not hard to imagine yourself here a couple of hundred years ago at the height of the Nguyen dynasty. The Royal Palace is beautiful and there are good information boards to supplement any guide book. Parts of the complex are being completely restored. For that, you should read rebuilt! The idea seems to be that in several years time it will look as good as new. We fear it will look a bit too Disneyfied when they are finished. Fatigue was catching up with us though, and once the rain began we started to make our way back to the hotel for a rest. The barrage of questions - "You want boat trip?" - was unnerving!

Being in the heart of the backpacker area did have some advantages. There was a wide selection of restaurants serving anything from hamburgers and pizzas to curry. We settled for Vietnamese fare in Queen Restaurant where we ate what we swear was the best Vietnamese food we have ever had. The other good thing is the proliferation of bars with happy hour. Buy 3 get 1 free wasn't good enough for us. Not even 2 for 1 could get us in. We were quite content with buy one, get one free, thank you very much!

We had big plans for the next day and they almost came to fruition. We hired bicycles and rode out into the countryside managing to visit two of the three locations we wanted to go to. About 4km out of town, following the river most of the time, it was hard to miss the Thien Mu Pagoda. Reaching high in the sky, the only worry was whether or not the two Korean women posing for each other would get out of the way before a tour party arrived so we could get a good photo. They didn't! The pagoda is flanked on each side by two buildings: one housing an enormous bell and the other a now familiar turtle with a stone tablet standing upright on its back.

A little deeper into the complex we saw monks praying in the temple. They paraded around in 50 shades of orange whilst the apprentices were bedecked in sky blue with heads at various stages of being shaven. Apparently their locks are chopped off gradually as they progress in their training. The colour and the chanting combined with the occasional clang from a ceremonial bell had us entranced. Around 50 or so other tourists were equally entranced but we tried to ignore them and concentrate on the main attraction. The gardens at the back were quite nice and we were very interested in the old blue Austin car which has been enshrined. During the Vietnam/American War, a monk drove from here to set himself on fire in Saigon. His martyrdom is celebrated and the car looks shiny and new.

A short way further along the river we had spied an intriguing looking pagoda. Unfortunately the weather stopped our progress. We took shelter next to a monument of some sort which had been restored thanks to Polish money. It's good to see the Eurozloty at work! It turned out to be a Confucian monument consisting mostly of turtles and tablets.

We turned down a boat ride across the river in favour of returning to town. If the rain abated we would continue. If not, we would have to be content with a siesta. We were lucky and were soon crossing the railway line and cycling out of town to the Nam Giao Esplanade. In the book it had sounded like a wonderful complex set in amongst pine trees, hidden from the road. Sadly not! What a disappointment. The mushroom sellers obstructing the busy road outside were far more interesting. Once again we had seen an interesting building a short way away. This time a gleaming white stupor with golden spire managed to elude us no matter which street we pedalled down.

Saddle sore but glad to have had a nice day out, we had our last night in town. The next morning we had a stroll around the civic buildings and statues before waiting for our 1pm bus which was predictably late!!!

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