Trading the fog for Rain!

Sheltering momentarily from the rain
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Arriving in Hue on schedule (after a one hour flight with Wendy asking Keith constant questions about the engine noise and what the pilot might be doing... much to Keith's annoyance!) we used the airport minibus to get dropped off at our hotel, a fairly nondescript place that had hot water and spare blankets!  We did notice rain rattling down the drainpipe just outside our window but thought it was probably a passing shower.

How wrong we were.... the rain continued to bucket down (and we mean bucket!)  We had to break out the plastic ponchos we'd brought with us.  We really needn't have bothered... there are more ponchos over here than you can poke the proverbial stick at.  Every colour, every size... everyone wearing one!

The rain in Hue stays mainly on Keith and Wendy!

Sightseeing is such fun!
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Hue is the old imperial capital of Vietnam and the guide book suggested that there was much to see.  There probably is, in fine weather!

We'd booked a boat trip up the Perfume River with lunch included.  We were collected by motorbike from our hotel and before we'd had time to don the ponchos we were off on the back of the bikes to meet our boat at the dock.  Thus began the day's soaking.  We were wet before we started.

The staff on the boat were a cheerless lot and Wendy surmised that they had trained under the Viet Cong or at least had a hand in building the legendary tunnels nearby.  Our first surprise was that our 'lunch included' would be only beans.  We were required to order anything more tasty.  We declined as did several others.  'Go the beans' we were heard to say.

Tomb of Khai Dinh (last emporer of Vietnam)
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We visited a variety of temples, tombs, pagodas, mausoleums etc all in the pouring rain.  Each one was worthy of a leisurely stroll around to fully appreciate the history - but sadly our friendly boat staff would tell us how many minutes we would have at each one.  (Not enough!)

Returning to Hue and trudging back to our hotel through the torrential downpour that had set in, we decided to enjoy the pleasures of HBO satellite TV.  It has convinced us not to arrange cable/satellite TV at home.

Given the weather conditions, and advice that there was no improvement in sight, we decided to catch the bus to Hoi An the next day.  Another early start that required the alarm clock yet again.