For a map of my travels, click here.
A couple of last observations from Hanoi, before I get to Hue:
- The people of Vietnam now love Americans, which demonstrates that
over the long term, the US government's plan to win the hearts and minds
of the Vietnamese by bombing the shit out of them actually worked.
- Hanoi is written as two words in Vietnam--"Ha", meaning "city", and "Noi", meaning "of motorcycles".
- The Vietnamese currency (dong) is about
20,000 to the dollar. I withdrew $50.00 from an ATM and immediately
became a millionaire.
- There is a reason why you never hear about Vietnamese wine. However
at $2.00 a glass, you don't have to spend much to get to the point
where it doesn't matter.
Anyway, after 3 solid days of mist, rain, and heavy clouds in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, I was looking forward to more consistent weather in Hue, and I got it--3 days of rain.
Hue (pronounced "Hwey" or "Whe") is midway between Hanoi and Saigon, and was the imperial capital of Vietnam between 1802 and 1945.
My flight arrived at about 3:30 PM and I was situated at the Romance Hotel (which is not what it sounds like--they don't rent rooms by the hour) by about 4:30.
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| Hue International Airport |
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| I believe this is the Museum of Revolutionary History, and the sign is advertising an exhibit, "On the Domain Heritage" (or at least that's what Google Translate says). |
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| The Romance Hotel |
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| The romantic lobby of the Romance Hotel |
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| My romantic room |
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| View of Hue from my hotel room |
After settling in, I had the rest of the afternoon free, so I wandered the town in the rain. Hue is much smaller and low-key than Hanoi, with about 10 percent of the traffic. In theory, February is the driest month, but apparently it's still one of the wetter areas of the country. A lot of the buildings have that green moldy look you get in wet climates. Bleh.
My first destination was the Perfume River. The main part of the city is on one side of the river and the historical stuff is on the other side. I stayed in the main town.
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| Tourist boats on the river |
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| A closer look at some of the boats |
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| Modern art in a park along the river |
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| Typical intersection in the center of Hue |
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| Local vendor walking along the river |
After getting pretty thoroughly soaked, I stopped in at the
DMZ bar, so at least I can say I was in the DMZ. Nightlife in Hue is pretty much non-existent, so I had dinner at Confetti Restaurant (highly recommended if you're in the neighborhood) and retired to my hotel.
The next day was my official "tour" day, so we left bright and early to pick up one of the tourist boats to go down the Perfume River.
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| I took one of these boats on my tour. |
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| Another, larger, tour boat on the river. |
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| The skipper of our boat and her son. Apparently they live on the boat. |
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| View of housing along the river. |
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| Agricultural activities along the river. |
Our first stop was at the
Thien Mu Pagoda, which is a large temple (which includes the a tower that looks like a pagoda) about 3 miles south of Hue. One of the claims to fame of the temple is that it was the home of the Buddhist Monk
who set himself on fire in Saigon in 1963 (more on that in a picture below)
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| Phuoc Dien Tower |
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| View of the Perfume River from Thien Mu Pagoda |
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| Temple Building at Thien Mu |
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| Another temple building at Thien Mu |
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| The car that the monk drove to Saigon to immolate himself. |
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| Another temple building at Thien Mu |
After drying off, we drove back to Hue and visited the Citadel, which is on the other side of the Perfume River from the main part of Hue. The Citadel is also known as the
Imperial City (technically, the Imperial City is inside the Citadel). The Citadel was the residence of the Emperor of Vietnam beginning in the early 1800's, and was heavily damaged in the Vietnam War.
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| Ngo Mon Gate at the Citadel |
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| Thai Hoa Palace at the Citadel |
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| Ngo Mon Gate at the Citadel |
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| Royal Theater at the Citadel |
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| How about them Heels? At the Royal Theater |
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| The Mieu temple building at the Citadel ("The" is part of the name, not the English article) |
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| Entrance to the Forbidden Purple City at the Citadel |
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| A gate the Hien Lam Pavillion at the Citadel |
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| Hien Lam Pavillion at the Citadel, built in 1824 |
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| The Mieu temple building at the Citadel |
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After the Citadel, we made a required stop at a souvenir village, and then proceeded to
Tu Hieu Pagoda, which was built in the mid 1800's. (Pagoda seems to be the general term for a temple, not a specific tower).
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| Incense on sale at the souvenir village. |
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| Hat making at the souvenir village |
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| Tu Hieu Pagoda |
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| Tu Hieu Pagoda |
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| Tu Hieu Pagoda |
Our last stop was at the tomb of Khai Dinh, who was emperor between 1916 and 1925.
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| On the road to Khai Dinh tomb |
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| Tomb of Khai Dinh |
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| Tomb of Khai Dinh |
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| Tomb of Khai Dinh |
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| Tomb of Khai Dinh |
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| View from the tomb of Khai Dinh |
After touring the historical sites, we returned to Hue for lunch. I had the afternoon free, so I returned to the streets of Hue.
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| This says all you need to know about the weather |
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| A building on the campus of the University of Hue |
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| One of the convenient things about Vietnam is that they actually have street signs on every corner |
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| Typical tea/coffee house |
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| Shopping street in the center of Hue |
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| All in for Uncle Ho! |
Finally it was back to the hotel, out to dinner, and an after-dark stroll.
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| View from my hotel room at dusk |
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| Traditional Vietnamese musicians at the Tropical Garden Restaurant. Actually, they were very good. |
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| View of Hue nightlife from my hotel room. |
I woke up bright and early the next morning and, you're not going to believe this, it was raining! Since my flight to Saigon wasn't leaving until the afternoon, and I was determined to get my money's worth out of my stay in Hue, I headed out into the rain. This time I invested an entire dollar (20,000 dong) into a rain poncho, which turned out to be my best investment of the trip.
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| View of Hue from the top of my hotel |
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| Another view of Hue from the hotel |
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| A vendor enjoying herself in the rain |
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| Government Communications Building |
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| Massive morning traffic jam one one of the main boulevards in Hue |
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| What Vietnamese billboards look like |
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| Make your own caption here |
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| This is the only thing I saw in Hue that looked like it might be a shopping center |
Finally, at about 2:00, we headed for the airport. The terminal was not too bad, and since our flight was delayed by about an hour, Vietnam Airlines gave me a voucher for lunch. Unfortunately, like in Luang Prabang, the airport restaurant was in a completely separate building from the terminal, so I had to walk across the parking lot in the rain to get a bowl of pho. But, you can't beat the price, and I'm still waiting for an American carrier to buy me lunch for a 1 hour flight delay.
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| Hue Airport Terminal |
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| My free bowl of pho. |
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| The airport restaurant. Really. |
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| The waiting area at Hue airport. Gift shops, but no food. |
Finally, at about 4:00, we took of for Saigon, in search of the sun.
Next:
A Few More from Hue
