Vietnam - Hue

Public service announcement for anyone travelling to Hue: it's hot and humid - like 34˚C hot with 82% humidity (so feels like 48˚C if you believe the Weather Network). I was not impressed when we first got there. Sure it's been hot everywhere except Dalat but this felt gross. We got there at lunch time and then I spent the afternoon hiding in the shade by the Perfume River with a headache, watching boats go by and worrying about the next day when we had a full day of outdoor sightseeing planned.

Empty boat on river

Full boat on river



Very full boat on river












I shouldn't have worried so much - yes, the next day was hot but it was also fun and there was some shade and a bit of a breeze so it was ok. We went to the Citadel and Imperial City where we learned about the many kings of the Vietnam from 1800's to 1945. The overriding impression I came away with is that the kings had a lot of sex. One king even had sex with five ladies in one night, got three of them pregnant and still got up for an early morning meeting the next day. Oh, and another was so unhappy with his predecessor that he had his corpse exhumed and fired it out of a canon! (Kind of hilarious unless that's the person chosen to rule your country).

Imperial City

 

Imperial City

We then went to the Thien Mu Pagoda, took a boat trip up the Perfume River, saw how incense sticks are made, had lunch at a nunnery, visited an old coliseum (where they used to have tiger vs. elephant fights), explored a royal tomb and visited a small village (where a lively old woman gave us a demonstration on old farming techniques).

Thien Mu Pagoda

Tiger claw marks in concrete

Royal tomb

It was a busy day and what made it more fun is that we were transported to each destination on the back of motorcycles (errr... Mom, Dad, maybe don't read that last part). I'd never ridden on a motorbike before so for the first leg I was huddled up against the driver, holding onto him for dear life, but by the end of the day, I was sitting back where I was supposed to and holding on by myself.