At the end of the bus ride, we ignored all of the dozen or so cabbies. We grabbed our bags and just walked away. We had no intention of walking to our hotel, but we did want to connect to WiFi and look at a map before catching a cab. There was no way we were going to blindly trust another taxi to take us directly where we needed to go. This time we didn't have anything to worry about because we happened to find an honest driver, but the peace of mind was more valuable than the money we could have lost to another crooked cabby.
Neil had been to Hue in 2007 on his earlier tour of the country, so he knew which sights we needed to visit. After arriving at our hotel (Vina Hotel, which was totally mediocre compared to Vaia in Hoi An, but it did have a nice view of the Perfume River), we booked a tour of the historic monuments just outside of town.
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| Watching the catch of the day from our window |
The first part of the tour involved taking a dragon boat along the Perfume River. How cute are they?!
Our first stop was a historic home in the classic style for the area. It was pretty cool except that all of the English speaking members of our tour decided it was clearly just a ploy to give money to the guide's buddy. It also didn't help that before we entered, we were told the admission price, which wasn't included in the tour price. What the guide didn't tell us was that the man standing out front collecting money was a beggar and not associated with the house, so we ended up paying double. Not that we're opposed to some charity, but it would have been nice if the guild had mentioned it.
Next up was the Thien Mu Pagoda, the official symbol of Hue. Even though Vietnam isn't officially a Buddhist country (or even officially religious), this pagoda is an important symbol to the people. Because I can't explain it better than Wikipedia, "the temple also houses the Austin motor vehicle in which Thich Quang Duc (a Buddhist monk) was driven to his self-immolation in Saigon in 1963 against the Diem regime. It was the first of a series of self-immolations by members of the Buddhist clergy, which brought the plight of Buddhists to the attention of the international community." It's not the happiest of things to visit, but it's culturally important. Just go with it.
Now it was time to visit the tombs. Again since Wikipedia is the best source of information, I'm just going to leave you in their hands (check the Tombs of the Emperors section). Instead I'll provide the pictures...
Tomb of Minh Mang
Tomb of Khai Dinh
This tomb was my favorite. Just check out those statues! It was a really funny mix though. The outside area was super stark with the serious-looking man servants, but the inside part was full of colorful mosaics. I could have spent all day taking pictures of those guys! When Neil was here in 2007, it was a super dreary day, so the pictures he had shown me didn't do it justice in the sun.
Tomb of Tu Duc
This one was Neil's favorite. According to him, it's a sprawling oasis, and Neil does like a good park. Tu Duc was the poet emperor, so this setting really reflects his personality. The grounds were much larger than the first two, but the buildings weren't nearly as well preserved.
After the tombs we headed to the citadel (it was a really long day). At this point, the other English speakers on the tour left, so our guide officially switched to Vietnamese for the remaining guidees (it didn't seem to bother him that we were still there and didn't understand). Since it had been such a long day and no information was being directed our way, we learned very little about the citadel. You can read about it on the same Wikipedia link, or just look at some pretty pictures. The choice is yours and yours alone.
As it turns out, tour day was the only nice weather we had the whole time in Hue. It was the rainy season, but the weather there wasn't like anywhere else we visited. In Cambodia, it rained every single day. It was usually just a big downpour in the evening, and then it would stop. In Hue though, the weather was consistently dreary. It could rain at any given moment and last for hours. A mist hung over the city, and the sun is hard to come by. It didn't help that the leftovers of a typhoon also crossed our path causing power outages.
At this point, we had been traveling non-stop for nearly a month. We were exhausted, and the weather was working against us. Bad news from home really put an end to much more activity. Our last day was pretty miserable. The typhoon left our hotel struggling to keep generators running, and I could only get sporadic updates from family as a result. Clearly we weren't going out in the rain and wind, but we were also worried about out flight to Hanoi that evening. Luckily, the storm cleared up in the afternoon, and the Hue airport only has three gates. Getting flights back on track was presumably easy, and our plane left right on time.
I hate to say it, but I probably would have been happy to only spend a day or maybe two in Hue. The tombs were interesting for the most part, but the city didn't have much more to offer. It wasn't the best use of our time, but relaxing in the hotel and watching the storm roll through was a nice change of pace. In hard times and bad weather, a comfortable bed can do a lot for one's spirits.
