Blogs from Hué, Thua Thien - Huế, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 15

Hue (pronounced 'Hay') situated in Central Vietnam, was, up until 1945, the capital of the country. From the beginning of the 19th century to 1945 the country's royal family resided in a grand palace in Hue known as The Citadel. It was grand in all respects and had to accommodate the emperor, his main wife and his many minor wives. One of the emperors was a rather greedy chap and had up to 500 minor wives and over 100 children, all of which had to be accommodated within The Citadel. Unfortunately, many of the fine buildings within The Citadel were either damaged or destroyed during the Vietnam War and many suffered as a result of American bombing. There has been a UNESCO programme of restoration and repair and this is ongoing but, due to a lack ... read more

We took a bus to Hoi an, checked in, and then went exploring. Knowing much of the city might be shut down for Tet tomorrow made us want to see as much as possible. All along the river were huge paper lanterns of various shapes and colors, all waiting to be lit. Shopkeepers were setting up other displays and offerings for the new year. All the shops were open yet, owners looking anxious as time passed. After wandering all the old town streets and seeing the Japanese bridge we settled into looking for dinner. We found a place recommended by LP that was right on the water. All the tables were marked reserved for the evening but they squeezed us in. (I think the reservations were for a later hour so that people could eat and ... read more

Sat Jan 22, 2011 very early On a tour bus in Hue right now for a DMZ tour. Margot and I arrived in Hue last night after a 3 hr bus ride. It was nice to see some of the country side. It's very wet, misty, rainy - like there has been a permanent gray soft focus lense cast over everything (it's really been mostly like that since we've arrived in Da Nang). Everyone still motorbiking around - just in various colored ponchos. Lots of rice paddy fields,too - some coming right up to heir very tiny, moldy-soaked house or more like shack/hut with clothes always hung out on lines to "dry". I think perhaps I'ave adjusted to the increased moisture/always feeling wet or rather never feeling dry. How dirty everything seemed at first is seeming ... read more

Hue and Hoi An We arrived into Hue on the overnight train from Hanoi - after being seranaded by Vietnamese music and annoucements for the first and last hour and a half! When we arrived we were greeted by our free hotel pick up - two motorbikes! It was an interesting journey with our massive backpacks wedged between the drivers legs and Tory clinging onto the driver's waist. We wandered around the remains of the Citadel on the first afternoon which was larger then expected and had pretty much been levelled by the Americans in the Vietnam War. The second (very wet) day we joined a tour that headed to the Thien Mu Pagoda and 3 Emperor Tombs (Minh Mang, Khai Dinh and Tu Doc). All of which differed depending on their time of ruling, but ... read more

Qui ("Kwee") and Nho ("ño") came to our hotel right on time and loaded up our (lots of) bags on the backs of their bikes. I was on the bike with Qui and the two big bags and Ronald was sitting behind Nho on his bike. They first took us to their restaurant to have breakfast, and then we headed out. After a while we took a little break on the side of the road and Ronald and I wandered around the rice paddies and fishing area. Qui told us that the government tried to give some of the fisherman houses and land before, but a lot of them just sold it and went back to living on their tiny boats and fishing. Our second stop was to a waterfall with an elephant rock. We stayed ... read more