A Royal welcome to Hue

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Arriving into Hue after a two hour drive from Da Nang, which immediately prior to that involved a hour and a half flight, previously involving a five hour airport wait after being on a sleeper train all night from Sapa, naturally we were quite tired.

On first glance as we drove into Hue to our hotel, the city scape looked no different to that of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, in fact I would say it was a mish mash of the two, quite appropriate considering Hue is the midway point between the two greats.

At the end of a T-junction we were approaching was a large white building with a grand gate. Outside this gate were a series of police cars, black unmarked vehicles and what looked to be secret service walking about the premises, my first thought was ‘embassy’ which I would of happily locked in had we not driven through the gate past the guards, we had arrived at our hotel.

We drove right up to the main entrance. At the base of the stairs were two flags, on the one side was the red flag with yellow star, Vietnam’s flag, on the other, the all too familiar Australian flag. Somewhat apprehensively I walked up the stairs into the lobby, all the while passing by all the officials of the hotel, all in top dress, greeting me with every step I took. This was some welcoming party. Little did I realise, moments after we had checked in and headed towards our room the Governor General Quenton Bryce walked up those very same steps and was given the same greeting as I.

Later that evening Michelle spotted Quenton with her entourage leaving the executive suite towards the main ball room, dazzling her as she walked by with camera flash.

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