Hue, Glorious, Hue!

Looking through one of the windows at Minh Mang's tomb.
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I'm so pleased to be back down in Central Vietnam. We had a trouble free flight down from Hanoi and easily made it to the bus to Hue that morning. Mum's bag had even made it to Da Nang airport for her to collect.

The bus trip up was slow (especially with the 40 minute stop at some random restaurant) but comfortable enough and we made it to Hue by lunchtime. We had a slack afternoon as we had been up before 5 am, and hung around the hotel, only venturing out for food.

Sunday we were a bit more organised and refreshed and got up early to make it to the Citadel before it got ridiculously hot. We set off on foot for the Citadel with cyclo drivers and moto drivers all calling out after us. We've found now that a gruff 'no thank you' seems to work a bit better and you don't get involved in any conversations with them. It's quite a pleasant walk over to the Citadel at that time of the morning and you see a lot more when you are moving slowly. We went to the Imperial Palace first as I remember how hot is was in there the first time that  I went. It's 55,000 dong to go in and interestingly there is a separate entrance for foreign visitors. I don't know how much the Vietnamese have to pay to get in. It is really very beautiful inside and they are working hard on restoring some of the derelict buildings there. All the lanterns were still out because the previous night had been the banquet. Being there early was really good because we managed to get ahead of the large tour groups and get some photos of the buildings that didn't have 57 people standing on the steps. After a good wander around we went out the back entrance and started to wander around the rest of the Citadel.

This is at Khai Dinh's tomb in Hue. The guy had a thing for dragons and this is one of the only places where they have still had eyes.
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The Vietnamese don't like to waste good land so the rest of the Citadel is just another suburb of Hue with the odd historic building dotted in amongst the houses. It's really interesting to walk around in though and see how the locals live. We went to a local coffee shop which seemed to contain only men except for the girl who did all the work. The men here seem to spend a lot of time sitting around drinking coffee and smoking while the women do all the work.

Khai Dinh was educated in France so had a bit of a thing for the whole Versailles look. They didn't quite get it but they did a good job of the Versailles meets Chinese mosaic look.
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Mum had the best coffee that she has had since arriving in Vietnam and we had multiple glasses of Vietnamese tea and the coffee for 7000 dong. I don't remember the name of the place but if you are a coffee nut and in the citadel it's on the corner of Doan Thi Diem and Nhat Le, just down the street from the Lakes.

It's really nice to wander around in the Citadel because a lot of tourists don't bother to do anything but the Imperial Palace and the flag tower, so you aren't walking around with a lot of Westerners. The people call out to you but in a friendly way, not a 'I want to sell you something' way. The traffic is fairly light on most of the streets so it's easy to get around too.

This is the actual burial place and it was very very glitzy. Wouldn't have stuck out in Las Vegas.
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We then walked back towards the city and had lunch at Lac Thanh, a local Vietnamese restaurant which does really cheap and filling food. The owner is deaf so you have to do a lot of pointing to order but they get it right most of the time. I've been there everytime I've come to Hue and am yet to have a bad meal. It was very pleasant just sitting on the balcony in the breeze for a couple of hours before going to face the hustle and bustle of the market at Dong Ba.

I'm not hugely fussed by the market in Hue. It's worth a visit but I wouldn't go out of my way to go regularly. It's very hot inside because of all the tarpaulins that are spread out over the stalls, and trap the air in. It also smells a little on the rank side because of all the dried seafood and herbal medicine that is in some sections. The fruit and vegie areas are nice and look really lovely with all the stacks of bright tropical produce. There is also an interesting section that sells items for people to burn in their shrines and things for funerals. It's not stuff that you would necessarily buy but is interesting to look at.

Another of the great dragons with eyes
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If you want to buy knock off watches, sunglasses and t-shirts, Dong Ba is the place for these. There are definitely plenty of them around. Not great quality but very cheap.

After the market we felt the need for a swim to wash the smell off so came back to the hotel for a while. It is really hot in Hue at the moment, so sightseeing all day really takes it out of you.

Today we organised a car with a driver to take us out to some of the tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda. We have had enough of organised tours with guides and decided to just do it ourselves. We went to Khai Dinh's tomb first which is really very beautiful, perched on the hillside above rice paddies. He had been educated in France so there are lots of European touches in the buildings and statues. It is quite a hike up the stairs though.

This is at Minh Mang's tomb which is much more traditional Vietnamese and nearly a century older.
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Next we headed onto Minh Mang's tomb which is much larger and more impressive. It isn't in as good repair though because it is nearly 100 years older. They seem to be doing some restoration work at the moment. It is quite peaceful walking around the gardens and lakes that surround the buildings and there is something very relaxing about the layout of the place. We sat for a while here and had a cold drink and it was really pleasant. By the way if you are going to this tomb, the toilets are quite good and while they are squats are clean and non-smelly.

The Thien Mu pagoda is the unofficial symbol of Hue. It still has a fully functional monastery there.
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We then got back into the car and headed onto the Thien Mu Pagoda which is the most famous pagoda in Vietnam. It was a pleasant drive through country roads to get there from Minh Mang's tomb but highway back into Hue. The Pagoda is still in use as a monastry so there are functioning buildings in the complex. While we were there, the monks came out in their yellow and orange robes to have prayers. The singing was really lovely. Not like the Tibetan buddhists who sound like the backing group for a death metal band. This is another really lovely complex that is really peaceful once you get away from the masses of people being off loaded by the dragon boats at the steps. If you go right to the back wall you can see the enormous graveyard that covers most of the hillside behind the pagoda. There are some great statues carved from wood in some of the buildings that even have really moustaches and beards made of horse hair. Some of them have really scary looks on their faces, especially the black one who is smiling like a loony.

This is one of the statues at the Thien Mu pagoda. He definitely looks like a vengeful god to me.
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We're now back in the hotel for our nap and to wait for the weather to cool down. It's really pleasant here in the evenings at the moment, just unbearably hot in the middle of the day.

Tomorrow morning we get on the bus and head further south to Hoi An for the rest of the week and for a brief visit with the kids at Malnourished.