Q, How many travellers and their backpacks can you fit into a Hyundai Getz taxi?
A, 4 plus the taxi driver!
So we bid another farewell to hanoi after our Halong Bay visit and hastily made it to the train station for another overnight sleeper train, this time to Hue.
Although our carraige seemed nicer than our Sapa one, we then spent the next hour disposing of the cockroaches!
We arrived in Hue after 15 or so hours on the train and were greeted by the usual array of taxi drivers trying to charge us 5 times the price for a short trip to our hotel. Eventually after using my amazing haggling skills and being stubborn we managed to get a taxi to our hotel for the right price.
We checked into the Hong Thien hotel (which I would highly recommend) which is near the backpacker area and it came came complete with a pool and the staff spoke really good English and also seemed to understand English humour (which is very rare in Vietnam) In fact the hotel was so good that we decided to stay an extra night.
So we dumped our bags had a shower and headed out onto the streets of Hue to discover what was going on. We where both pretty hungry after the train and decided to go for lunch and leanne tried the local specialty which was Nem Lui (which is minced pork spring rolls with peanut sauce to you and me) and I have been told it was amazing!
after a little look around the streets we decided to go back to the hotel for a swim to escape the heat and get ready for the evening.
For dinner we went to a really nice vegan restaurant on the Perfume River overlooking the Citadel, and we met out new friend 'Ben' the vegetarian rat who cleaned up under your table after you had finished. We then went for a few beers at the DMZ bar before Leanne tried some homemade Lemon grass ice cream from the 'why not?' bar and she has boldly stated that it is the best ice cream she has ever eaten!
We awoke early to go to the Citadel and visit the tombs of the acient emporers of Vietnam. The Citadel was really cool and a great sight looking over the river back towards the new city. We then headed to a pagoda and home to buddhist monks and more famously was the home of a monk who drove to Saigon and set himself on fire beside his car to protest over the treatment of monks in the 1950's and his car has been returned here to act as a shrine for his sacrifice.
After lunch we headed to 3 tombs of the ancient emperors of Vietnam, apparently 28 of the 29 emperors are buried in the hills around Hue - except for the last emperor who gave the country to Ho Chi Minh and his party (whether he handed it over or it was taken from him I never found out) and then moved to France where he lived the rest of his life.
The tombs themselves are more like massive country estates and parks - most of them full of lakes and pagodas and temples and most have underground palaces where the emperor is laid to rest.
Apart from the 28th Emperor who's tomb is built into the hillside and has 4 platforms with his tomb housed in the top building.
We where really enjoying Hue but it was time to move on so we where picked up from our hotel at 8am and headed to our next stop Hoi An.
To see our Hue pictures please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/HueVietnam28th30thMay2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCK7g26rX9drWMQ#
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