Hue

The main memory from Hue for me was the heat. For the 4 or so days we were there it was around 40C every day.

On our first day in Hue after showering and stuff, we went out for dinner but it was dark so we had no idea where anything was. On the way to finding somewhere to eat, we walked past a really creepy looking fairground that probably only looked creepy because of it being night! We ended up finding a place to eat and thanks to language barriers ended up eating rice, vegetables and tofu. It was actually really nice and also really cheap because we only managed to order 1 dish!

The next day we decided to turn the other way out of the hotel, which ended up way more successful because we found actual stuff! We went for a walk along the river, got about 200m and decided it was too hot so we hung out in a cafe for most of the day!

PS Sorry about the ordering of the last 2 posts, I pressed publish on this way before Imogen did on her Hanoi post so don't know what happened there!


The day after, we found a small bakery that runs a school to teach children on the streets to bake, where they then have a skill to gain work. So we did our bit for charity and had some croissants! Next, we went to buy train tickets but the train we wanted was full so we booked tickets for a 2am departure... The rest of the day was spent on the other side of the river where we had lunch and went to the market! Finished the day on the riverside where all the tourist boats park up with coffee and ice cream!

The next day we did a boat tour down the perfume river. The first stop was a nice historical house/garden that we can't identify from our guide books! The next stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda, which is the oldest pagoda in Vietnam! This is also the monastery that the monk who burned himself in protest of the American war came from. We stopped at another temple but were told it was expensive and boring so we sat by the river for a bit! We had lunch on the boat and then stopped at the first of the tombs we would see, which we think was Minh Mang's. During this tomb visit, we took a picture of a dog, which then growled and went for us! A bit later in the same tomb, we looked through an archway towards the river and another dog was there which also came for us! These encounters made us temporarily scared of dogs until just recently! We had an option to see the second tomb but decided against it and then got overcharged for ice creams just outside the tomb instead! The final tomb we think was Tu Duc's. We originally thought this stop was a cafe because we were ushered in by the staff, but then the tour guide came running over telling us that we were at the tomb! While in the tomb, we took it a bit too easy and realised with 10 minutes there was still loads to see so we had to power around to see everything!

For dinner that day we went to an amazing curry place and then for dessert to the bakery again (for charity).

Next day was relaxed at the hotel, Imogen was poorly!

On the next day, we went to the citadel but on the way because it was too hot we stopped at a riverside cafe for water. We ordered what we thought was just normal mineral water but ended up with sweet fizzy water! The water wasn't too bad, but not what we wanted! This was the day of the train so in the evening we hung out at a cafe until it closed at 10:30 then headed to the train station for a very long wait for our train which was only slightly late!