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Published: January 3rd 2008
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Maddy in the rain
Here I am at Nguyen Phuc Tuan's tomb outside Hue. 31/1 - travel day Hoi An -> Hue
After a nice early start we boarded an 8am bucket of bolts for the low low price of US $4 and we arrived into Hue, formerly the capital of Vietnam, at around midday.
After checking into our hotel we meandered along the beautiful Perfume River, which runs down the middle of Hue, and through the beautiful old buildings and their manicured gardens. Hue, in central Vietnam, was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty, which lasted from 1802 to 1945. They were the last royal family of Vietnam. The key attractions in Hue are the remaining tombs of some of the emperors, and the Citadel which served as business and pleasure quarters for the reigning king.
For New Year's Eve we went out with our friends Sib and Steve, and the tour group they are on. We had a ten course meal dressed as concubines and eunuchs. Afterwards we all went out to a karaoke bar which was a special experience in itself - there were some very unusual versions of familiar songs! The night dissolved eventually to singing "On top of spaghetti" which was very funny.
1/1 - Hue
Well, unfortunately for the 2 days we were in Hue it did little more than bucket with rain! As much as we tried to be energetic, it is very hard to maintain a good mood once your socks have soaked through! hehe. Nonetheless, we went around and saw arguably the 3 most popular tombs - or at least the ones that are typically included in day tours - those of Minh Mang (1820 - 1841), Tu Duc (1847 - 1883) and Khai Dinh (1916 - 1925). My favourite was the tomb of Khai Dinh - some would say it is over the top but I love the wow-factor (see photos - Nguyen Phuc Thuan).
We were supposed to see the Citadel that afternoon but since we were drenched we watched some DVDs in our hotel room and crossed our fingers that the next day would be a bit finer. It wasn't!
2/1 - Hue
Within a few minutes of leaving the hotel our dry socks were soaked through again and I resolved for once and for all to invest in some Gore-tex shoes! We walked the 3 or so kilometres to the Citadel - figuring that
we could hardly get any wetter - and had a wander around in there. It was a pretty remarkable place - see photos. The whole area was originally split into an "Imperial" zone and a "Forbidden Purple City". The Imperial area was dedicated to ministries and offices and so on, while only concubines, eunuchs and the Royal Family were allowed in the Forbidden City. Only around 15% of the original buildings remain subsequent to destruction by the French.
Back in the hotel room we tried to dry off our pants and socks with the hair dryer but to no avail. At 3pm we caught the local, non express train to Ninh Binh. That might have been a mistake in retrospect because we barely got a wink of sleep! We were sharing our cabin with two elderly Vietnamese ladies who seemed to spend most of their time chewing betel leaves then spitting the remnants conspicuously into a special bin they brought along specially for the purpose. When dinner came they promptly took any food that I didn't finish and put it into their pockets for safe keeping - which I thought was very cute!
Unfortunately though the train was
New Years Eve Cake
The lovely people at the Orchid hotel gave us this little present for New Years. Yum! very slow and uncomfortable - and I would probably suggest to other travellers that they consider a bus as they are fast and cheap (I think the train was actually more expensive than the bus). On the other hand it was a worthwhile experience eating and sleeping with the lovely Vietnamese people - which is not going to happen on a tourist bus. But if you value sleep take the bus! =-)
3/1 - Ninh Binh
We arrived sleepy and dirty and cranky into Ninh Binh at 6am and checked into our hotel. We had reserved the night before for an early checkin. We had a rest and some hot showers and were ready for our wonderful day at Tam Coc.
I knew it would be an amazing day when I awoke to sunshine streaming in through the blinds - the purest sunshine we've seen in Vietnam to date. We hired a motorcycle and tried to find Tam Coc - but ended up getting hopelessly lost in the backroads which run along through the rice paddies. It's a bit hard to complain though given that the scenery was truly breathtaking and the Vietnamese were so lovely to
Maddy at the Citadel
.. getting rained on! us.
Eventually we came to the entrance to a big stairway that led to the top of one of the magnificent and dramatic karst formations. We knew we weren't at Tam Coc - our original destination - but we decided to hike to the top anyway. It wasn't too hard but it was very steep. We were the only people there, which was so peaceful and lovely! At the top we sat in a little temple where we were afforded truly stunning 360deg views of the surrounding karst towers and rice paddies. I would rank this spectacle equal to Lago Atitlan in Guatemala which is now my equal favourite thing I've ever seen with Tam Coc.
After our descent we finally found Tam Coc and took a truly spectacular 2 hour boat ride through the karst formations and three natural caves.
After a little lunch at 2:30pm, we scootered on home and I took a nap!
Hope to write again soon!
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