Today we left Hanoi and flew with Vietnam Airlines to Hue. I must say Vietnam Airlines is an impressive airline even if it was an airbus we were flying in (the author is not a fan of the airbus - much prefer a boeing) - cheap yet very professional with lots of leg room. As we had prebooked our accomodation in Hue - they had a car waiting for us at the airport - nice one ! The guesthouse we were staying at was central (as recommended by the LP) and was more than adequate. We organised a tour of the city for the following day, had dinner in a place called Mandarin cafe (lots of local cuisine) , polished off by a few Tiger and Saigon beers in "Cafe thru Wheels" later.
The following day we were up bright and early checking out the local royal tombs ! The tombs were build for the Emporers of the Nguyen dynasty who ruled from the early 1800's to about 1945 - interstingly enough none of them lived very long (all died before they were 50 ) - too much of a good life it seems ! (that was our history fix for the day !). We stopped along the way to see incense making and the famous conical hats of Vietnam. Sancha couldn't resist and purchased a little set of conical hats (the "easy to post" kind) .
After lunch we headed to the Forbidden Purple City (royal palace and temples) and the Citadel (scene of major offensive during the Vietnam war 1954 - 1975). The area itself was very impressive but as the temperature at 2.30pm hit 38 degrees - we started to wither slightly.
(Pic, dragons decorate the river for Hue's 2006 Cultural Festival)We struggled on and went to see a pagoda down river - nice scenery - you can see the mountains which border Laos from Hue. We finished the evening in "Cafe thru Wheels" with Graham and Yvonne where Tu (the owner) played "Ireland music" all evening - first U2 then the Pogues !
Friday 2 June - had a well deserved sleep in and spent the afternoon sorting travel arrangements for our onward trip south. We treated ourselves to a haircut - the first in two months and badly needed !! The cut turned out fine in the end however it was an interesting experience. First she washed the hair, then she blow-dried it, then she took out the hair straightner and spent 25 minutes straightening every strand in my head (with the occasional smell of singed hair!) and finally she took out the scissors ! Trying to explain that we cut after washing and before drying was a futile excercise.
There is an obvious difference between Vietnam and other SE Asian countries (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia) in that we see very few monks here - confuscist religion here and there are no problems here with PDA ( Public displays of affection).
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