We cruised into Hue on one of the popular 'Open Tour' buses. We'd managed to avoid them thus far. It wasn't the best trip you could hope for. The bus did have air conditioning, but most people thought that opening a window was a great idea! Hmmmm.......... We were relieved to get off, but some people were heading on up to Hanoi - at least another 12 hours away! We prayed for their tortured souls.......
We wanted lodging pretty quick because some serious showering was required. Said yes to the first option. Then had to ask for the sheets to be changed for clean ones. Then the smell began to rear its ugly head. The spider webs began to vie for our attention. To shower was great, but we easily found another place, Sports 1 Hotel (literally 25m away), a huge improvement.
Hue was the centre for the Nguyen Dynasty that lasted from the early 1800's through to the French colonisation (1930's). So as a result there are some spectacular sites (tombs, pagodas and palaces) dotted around. We took a river cruise down the formerly accurate but now slipping named Perfume River. It was so ridiculously hot and HUMID! An oppressive day. We took in the Thien Mu Pagoda (where the first monk to burn himself alive in protest was from), former Emperor Minh Mang tomb (which was very pretty), Emperor Tu Duc's tomb (which was also really good), a small temple and finally an incense maker.
The next day we headed to the old city to see the Citadel. But I subconciously decided that taking photos was not really worth it and left both memory cards in the hotel room. For some reason my decision seemed to cause a level of consternation (whaaaat?!). Luckily a nice man just outside the gates decided to sell us a new one (at a pretty good price). No photos of the old Citadel would have been a crime. This was a beautiful oasis in the buzzing Hue streets. There was barely any scooter noise (a rare blessing). A couple of elephants were hanging around (unfortunately chained to trees). It was a beautiful and tranquil place. It was like wandering around an abandoned city left to crumble.
We were chatting to a guy from Perth who had just taken the sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hue. He was a big lad, and his description of the journey had us looking for the nearest Vietnam Airlines office. We managed to find it and get a very good price for a flight to Hanoi ($50 each!) And soon we land there.......
We wanted lodging pretty quick because some serious showering was required. Said yes to the first option. Then had to ask for the sheets to be changed for clean ones. Then the smell began to rear its ugly head. The spider webs began to vie for our attention. To shower was great, but we easily found another place, Sports 1 Hotel (literally 25m away), a huge improvement.
Hue was the centre for the Nguyen Dynasty that lasted from the early 1800's through to the French colonisation (1930's). So as a result there are some spectacular sites (tombs, pagodas and palaces) dotted around. We took a river cruise down the formerly accurate but now slipping named Perfume River. It was so ridiculously hot and HUMID! An oppressive day. We took in the Thien Mu Pagoda (where the first monk to burn himself alive in protest was from), former Emperor Minh Mang tomb (which was very pretty), Emperor Tu Duc's tomb (which was also really good), a small temple and finally an incense maker. 
The next day we headed to the old city to see the Citadel. But I subconciously decided that taking photos was not really worth it and left both memory cards in the hotel room. For some reason my decision seemed to cause a level of consternation (whaaaat?!). Luckily a nice man just outside the gates decided to sell us a new one (at a pretty good price). No photos of the old Citadel would have been a crime. This was a beautiful oasis in the buzzing Hue streets. There was barely any scooter noise (a rare blessing). A couple of elephants were hanging around (unfortunately chained to trees). It was a beautiful and tranquil place. It was like wandering around an abandoned city left to crumble.
We were chatting to a guy from Perth who had just taken the sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hue. He was a big lad, and his description of the journey had us looking for the nearest Vietnam Airlines office. We managed to find it and get a very good price for a flight to Hanoi ($50 each!) And soon we land there....... 
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