Hue

We're now in Hoi An (since late yesterday pm) after a couple of fun days in Hue.

We had a reserved a room in Hue at the Orchid Hotel, which is right in the middle of the tourist center of the city.  It turned out that the double we'd requested was unavailable, so they upgraded us to the "romantic" room on the top floor.

We had great views north over the river and over the city to the south.  After cleaning up from the train journey at our hotel we set off on foot to explore. We walked across the river (ok, across a bridge over the river) and spent a little time wandering the Dong Ba market area.  We had fun squeezing through the narrow aisles separating shops, and Ellen found a nice silk shirt to bargain over.

We spent a chunk of the afternoon making arrangements for the next phases of the trip.  With Tet (the Chinese new year, and the major holiday on Vietnam's calendar) approaching, we wanted to make sure we had things lined up for Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City.  We booked hotels, and air tickets because it's a 24 hour train trip, but hour and half flight, from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City.

This several block region is full of hotels, hostels, eateries, and bars, almost all catering to tourists.  By luck we arrived on a weekend when the streets of this small area close to motorized traffic in the evening and it turns into one large street party.  There are dozens of restaurants and bars, several of which have live music that can generally be heard from down the street.  There are also performers that set up right in the street.  It's a pleasant albeit very loud cacophony.

 The closed streets were packed with a mix of Western and Asian tourists, and plenty of locals as well.

A local English teacher brought her students to practice their skills on foreigners like us.  We had fun talking with them.

We ended up walking a block outside the pedestrian zone to find a more authentic place to eat; we were the only foreigners inside and the waiter knew only slightly more English than I know Vietnamese.  Later we stopped for a happy hour (which runs basically all evening) two-for-one drink at the Brown Eyes Bar.  They are very friendly and definitely do not stint on the alcohol.

Sunday we arranged a taxi to take us outside the city to visit the tombs of past kings of Vietnam (way too much traffic for me to feel comfortable on a motorbike).  The hotel set us up with a great driver who spoke a little English.  First stop was the tomb of the Emperor Minh Mang, who ruled in the first half of the 19th century.  It's like a large and beautiful park, with lakes and adorned with temples and other ceremonial buildings, as well as the walled-off area where he is entombed.

Next stop was the tomb of the Emperor Khai Dinh who was the penultimate Nguyen dynasty king and ruled (apparently very much under the thumb of the French) early in the 20th century.  His tomb covers much less real estate, but the buildings and statuary are incredibly ornate.

The inner room where the king is entombed (under this life-size bronze statue of him) is entirely decorated with inlaid ceramic and glass to create the ornate designs.

Small detail

After two mausoleums we were ready to pack it in, but our driver insisted we stop at Thien Mu Pagoda, which sits on a bluff over the river and was founded in 1601.  It was the home of the monk Thich Quang Duc, who famously self immolated in 1963 to protest the Diem government, an action which was captured by Western photojournalists and therefore very widely reported.  The little blue car he drove to Saigon is on display in the Pagoda complex.

We asked our driver to drop us off at the end of our explorations at the Citadel, which is the large area that (since the early 1800s) housed the Vietnamese royal family and the royal offices.  Although the perimeter walls still stand, almost everything inside was destroyed by war in 1945 and again in 1968 (during the Tet offensive).  Some of the Imperial City has been restored, but most of the area remains in ruins.  Still, it's an interesting and very large museum.

Entrance gate to the Imperial City

In the evening we headed out again to join the crowds on our traffic-free streets.  We had a great dinner at Madame Thu's restaurant, listened to several street bands perform, and turned in early to be ready for our 8 am bus to Hoi An.