Hue under the water!!!

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We arrived in Hue about 2 hours before the storm did which was just about enough time to get to the Citadel and then get completely drenched. Hue was the capital of Vietnam in the 19th & 20th century and the citadel was the Emperor's residence during that time. It was a shame because we only got to see the entrance, after that the rain came down which meant none of us could really appreciate the rest of the massive complex. When the rain started it really fell, we were all soaked to the skin even though we had waterproofs and by the time we tried to catch a taxi back to the hotel we must have looked like drowned rats because the taxi drive refused to take us, leaving us with no option but to walk the 20 minutes back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up to find all the roads flooded up to the knee's. Hue is situated on the Perfume river which had burst its banks and all the houses and shops even a few roads back from the river were flooded. We were due to take a bus trip that day to nearby pagoda's, tombs and bunkers from the Vietnam/American war and even though it was raining we decided to go. The only problem was that the bus could not get to our hotel as the roads were flooded so we had to wade through the streets, knee deep in water. This was a sign of things to come!! Again, due to the rain we couldn't appreciate the extravagant tomb complex of Tu Duc, who was one of the emperor's of Vietnam during part of the 19th century, or the rest of the trip. During the bus journey back we had the same problem where the bus driver could not take us all the way to the hotel but this time it was a 30 minute walk away.....higher than knee deep in places and with a strong current against us. We also had to tackle the 4WD's and motorbikes which were trying to make it through and creating waves in the water. No thought for the people wading down the middle of the road!!!!

To get anywhere (bars, restaurants) we had to wade through the water and on most nights we could only find 1 bar/restaurant open which we ended up spending a lot of time in. The first night we tried to stay until it stopped raining but we had to give up in the end as the rain was just not going to stop!!! The rain didn't stop for a good couple of days and the whole of the central area of Vietnam was severely flooded. We were really lucky as we had to just stay an extra day in Hue, at least we had a dry hotel room with running water and electricity. We felt for the people who's houses were completely flooded.

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Photos

DMZ bar
Our home for all the nights in Hue for food, drinks and pool with people from our group.

Flooded roads
Cyclo driver converted to water taxi!!

Comments

[Angela]

Graffiti
IS THAT MUFC GRAFFITI ON THE WALL IN THE DMZ BAR? I AM SURPRISED YOU COULD SIT IN THAT BAR WITH SUCH WONDERFUL WRITING ON THE WALL......MAYBE ITS NUFC AND YOU CAN CHANGE IT FOR ME!!!