"Peace and Tranquility in Vietnam"

Ancient walled city in Hue
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We finally arrived in Hue from Hanoi after our overnight train ride. Hue is a mid-sized city with a huge amount of history. It was once the capitol of Vietnam and so has a citadel modeled on the 'forbidden city' in China. Before we could find out more though we had to check out the pool in our hotel as the temperature seems to be a constant 36ish all the time.

One of our first finds was the Mandarin cafe that was having it's opening day that day. Marissa had noticed a load of Monks in there as we drove past and it was only later that we realised that they had been there to bless the caf! Anyway the food was great and they also sold photos by the owner, Mr Cu, who has won a few awards for his candid shots of the local life. Needless to say we couldn't resist buying a couple.

A great find and one we had to exploit with 'abducted by aliens' photo's.

Royal entrance (not for us minions!)
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Later it was off to check out the remains of the 'citadel'. Unfortunately most buildings were destroyed in the American war as Hue was a key battleground but what remained was definitely worth checking out. With the help of Unesco the site should gradually come back to life over the next few years.

Next morning we hopped on a dragon boat and chugged up the Perfume River to one of the Viet's former kings tomb. Again very serene and impressive. We also checked out a temple where the famous monk who burned himself alive as a protest against S. Vietnams anti-Buddist stance in the 60's originated (you will have seen the photo). Again the story was fascinating and made us realise what a varied history this country has had in the last 70 years. After all there aren't many countries that have been colonised by 4 different ones in the last century (France, Japan, USA and China). Each country has definitely left a lasting impression.....some good (french bread) and some bad.

Royal theatre performance
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The afternoon was back on the bikes with a moped tour of villages and sights. We saw some local factories making incense sticks and paper hats as well as ancient bridges, bunkers and a relic of an elephant fighting stadium. The tour also wound through the paddy fields and finished at the beach for a dip so we couldn't complain.

Next up it was the 100km trip to Hoi An. The highlight of this was a trip to 'Marble Mountain' so called because it's got a lot of marble in it. This mountain also had a series of caves that had natural pools of light coming in and carved Budda's in the walls. A great find and one we had to exploit with 'abducted by aliens' photo's.