After the train ride which took a fair bit longer than expected (3.5 hours instead of 2.5 hours) we got a taxi to our hotel in Hue. A really nice hotel, probably our best so far! The upgraded us to a family room (massive) with a balcony, even had our own computer! Said we could have had a honeymoon gift or room upgrade- we went with the upgrade! All for only $15 a night an the hotel had a nice pool and awesome breakfast included too. Was called the hong thien 1 hotel (they had a few) if anyone is ever going, highly recommend it! We then went for a walk into town, had a nice lunch and went to the citadel. The citadel is ruins of an old walled city and palace for the emperor. Was pretty cool but not much left of it due to it being bombed in the war. Was nice to just wander around a look, some of the gardens were still well maintained and some of the buildings have been reconstructed. Would have been quite spectacular in its hay day!! Walked around after that, walked along the river and saw some matkets. went back to the hotel, had a swim, then out to dinner. Went to a lovely place called ninas cafe, was outside in a garden with lanterns hanging everywhere, really nice and food was excellent. Local Beers only 50c each and pretty good! Another meal under $10 for the 2 of us. We then wandered around the night markets by the river. Again good markets but can't do shopping!!
The next day we did a day tour to the temples. The morning was spent on a dragon boat- not as exciting as it sounds, actually quite boring!! Just a big old boat with a big flat area with plastic chairs and lots of tourists. went to a garden house, there are 149 of them built for the emperor's sons (he had 500 wives) was an old wooden house with an ok garden, nice to look at and interesting history. We then went to a beautiful pagoda by the river built on lovely gardens with many different shrines/ areas for praying. Was a nice quiet peaceful place. Then went to 3 different tombs, (Minh mang, Khai Dinh, Tu Duc) each were quite different in architecture and 2 of them were on massive beautiful grounds with lakes and nice gardens. Very extravagant for a grave!!! Really interesting to see though and beautiful craftsmanship and detail in the sculptures, buildings and interiors. We also stopped on the side of the road to see how they made incense and the famous conical hats. Again, couldn't buy anything! Went back and had a swim, and That night had an average dinner in a restaurant down the road (called rose restaurant, don't go there)