Hue

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Hue , pronounced who-ay or something similar although its not an easy one to get right, is the ancient capital of Vietnam and although its perfectly pleasant it lacks the energy of Saigon and the character of Hoi An. Its set very nicely on the Perfume River and is full of historic buildings and ancient tombs.

One of the best things about the place was the journey there, some amazing coastal and mountainous terrain littered with paddy fields and colourful pagodas that could compete with anywhere else in the world.

We had two nights here where we recoverred from my parents visit by avoiding Bia Hoi as best as possible, although we couldn't escape the local Huda beer.

The main draw card for Hue is the vast Citadel, the former digs of the Vietnamese emperors and a half decent place to visit , if you are into old buildings. Parts of it are falling to bits now thanks to time and.... yup, you guessed it American bombing during the war. Uncle Sam does it again.

You can easy take a couple of hours here to check the place out, it must have been impresive in its day but the heat and our attention span stopped us hanging around for very long. Looking at old stuff is starting to loose its appeal after 8 months.

Ambling down the banks of the river is a good way to pass time and there are zillions of cheap cafes to stop for a drink at. We tried to get in with the locals at one such tiny cafe, having asked for Pho, which was met with lots of giggling, they served us some cold King Prawns in some kind of jelly and flat rice jelly stuff with dried fish, it was simply awful, that will teach us to be adventurous with our scram, I suppose we can be glad it wasn't dog.

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Photos

Gatehouse
One of the four gatehouses at the citadel

The Palace
A palace in the Citadel in Hue

Lunch
Not the nicest vietnamse food we have had so far. Claire is swotting up on vietnamese so this will never happen again.

The Tracks
Here is the local railway, the guys work on the track just before the train arrives.

The view from the bus
A shot through the bus window of the amazing scenery on route to Hue.

Comments

[DJT]

banh beo
Is that BANH BEO for lunch.......... Oh I miss that. Maybe you just didn't have it at the right place. Try Banh Xeo next time.

[John and Claire]

banh beo
Will do, thanks for the tip. Banh Beo maybe takes some getting used to.