Exploring More Of Vietnam, Part 2

Hue

The Perfume River, Hue, after the sunsets is magical and full of life.

Four nights in Hue was the next part of our itinerary. We arrived mid afternoon it is only a 3 hour drive from Danang there is a tunnel which means it can be done quicker but of course there is not the same views. First stop after checking in was to find somewhere for a bite to eat. No problem really because there are endless options across the road from Century Riverview Hotel.

Exploring the back corners and little lanes in Vietnam holds many surprises.

The walking dollar sign story.

We did have a bit of a disturbing incident with a cyclo who thought he would attach himself to us. First he hounded us, to the point where I suggested that we should go back to the hotel and have swim just to get away from him. After rest time we came out and arranged with him to take us to the local market and told him that we wanted to walk back from there We had our cameras and wanted to spend some time taking photos of the perfume river at sunset.  On the way to the market he reached over and took my sunglasses off and put them on him for a photo. Strange I thought. When we got to the market he said he would wait. We said we did not need him to and that we would walk. A discussion ensued and I sort of forgot about my sunglasses which were now not in sight.The cylco was actually getting quite intimidating at this stage. He had a friend at the market who insisted on attaching herself to us. We told her we did not need her either that we just wanted to look for ourselves. “What do you want?” she kept asking I will show you. "Actually, nothing really. We just want to be left alone."  We also ended up having another scene when we wanted to look at the coffee makers that sit on the cups. The price was high (White faced dollar signs prices!) We were bargaining for 3 when I happened to open a second one to have a look at the inside it was very shoddy. The stall holder tried to say she would change it, after already trying to trick us into buying poor quality items at a very high price. We walked off and she chased us...Until I turned around and told her, "If you cheat, you loose!" In the end we found the back way out of the market, of course by then we had lost all of the willing helpers, who wanted  to relieve us of our money. We did not go back past the front of the market and I lost my sunglasses. The lucky cyclo retained my sunglasses. Leaving a sour taste in our mouths, as a result the rest of the cyclos outside the hotel got no business from us over the next 3 days. Surprise, surprise I did not see that particular cyclo or my sunglasses again. SO I found Bunnings bought some timber, built a bridge and got over it!  

We walked to the Citadel and were rewarded with many great photos
along with new understandings of life for the  Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty..

Day two in Hue and we were up early. Our mission was to go to the Citadel and explore the Imperial part of the city. It was about a 25 minute walk from our hotel and easy enough to find. We were pleased that we did not go a part of a tour. We ended up spending most of the day here. There was so much to look at including numerous photo opportunities. Here was the home of the Nguyen Dynasty. From 1802 until 1945.At one stage one of the emperors lived here with 104 wives. The design of the Citadel was very interesting. Of course much of it has been damaged in succeeding wars although currently there is ongoing restoration taking place. The work being done to restore parts of this monument is to be commended. I am sure that it will just continue to improve as as place to soak up the history of Vietnam.

One of the royal gates, this one le3ads to the house of the Emperor's Mother.
The middle entrance was for the the Emperor.The left side was for members of the court.
The right side of was for the army and the soldiers.

In the heart of the Citadel is the Purple  Forbidden City.
There were  numerous temples and pagodas. 

Forever the explorer Ruth, managed to brave the very hot conditions.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped by Asia Travel Mate to arrange for a day tour of the tombs. While we were there we decided to spend the morning of our last day in a cooking class. The nice people at Asia Travel Mate arranged all of this for us. Back at the hotel we arranged ot Take the train back to Danang on day 5. The reception desk arranged these and had them ready for us the next day. They couldn’t do enough to help us out.

One of the workers who are doing a fantastic job of renovating the
Citadel back to its new former glory.