17/10/09 Hue

We had a terrible nights sleep on the bus. We were over the back wheels and really got bounced around. Vietnamese drivers use their horns every few minutes to warn other drivers they are on the road, overtaking, coming behind them and seemingly for no apparent reason so we were woken constantly. There were several unexplained random stops at the side of the road for long perioods too as well as a few emergency stops. Poor Phil ended up being spooned by Ting Tong next to him who wrapped her arms and legs round him most of the night. We arrived in Hue at 10.30 ish and there was an instant gaggle of moto drivers clammering for everyones business. They all claim to know the cheapest and best rooms in town and will drive you there, claiming the commission on delivery of the tourists!! We already had a room booked and so walked down the road a short way to find a taxi. The hotel was really close and after checking in and showering wew ent to confirm our onward bus ticket. Then we walked over the Song Thong (perfume) river on the Phu Xuan bridge and ate some lunch in the Lac Thanh restaurant which was a Lonely Planet recommendation. We had a nice view of the river and the walls of the ancient citadel of Hue and ate a nice local food lunch. The friendly waiter showed us some paintings on sale for local street children so we bought a few of those as they were really lovely. We walked along the riverbank and called into a theatre where we could hear music from. Inside was a big concert with children singing and dancing, it was like a talent contest we think, which we stopped to watch for a while. We went through the Dong Ba market and the stall holders all smelt the westerners arrive. We were offered all sorts of things but Phil had seen a Vietnamese army hat he wanted...don't ask it will be placed in the shed with the croc head !! We bartered between two stalls and then he settled on a price and bought it. He looks like Don Estelle from It Aint Arf Hot Mum in it !!! Hue was the political capital of the country from 1802-1945 under 13 emporers from the Nguyen dynasty. The royal citadel in the center of the city is the remains of the opulent tombs and city now a Unesco Heritage Site. We walked through the Thoung Tu gate to visit the citadel area and were approached by two old cyclo drivers who offered us an hours tour which we decided to do. We jumped aboard the cyclos and went off round the outer citadel area (we are visiting the inner area on a tour tomorrow) . The drivers stopped at various points of interest along the way , a pagoda and a Buddhist temple where we saw the monks resting . We also saw the monks toilet block at which Phil said "holy s**t"" !! They also took us to see the Tinh Tao lake and as the Lonely Planet warns you we went to a shopping area with expensive carvings and jewellery for sale. The drivers would get commission on sales but they were out of luck wirth us. We stopped at the main citadel gate, Ngo Mon for a few photos and then they drove us out through the Quang Duc gate to drop us off at the Trang Tren bridge. It was 1.5 hours later and as the tour was quoted as an hour the two fellas tried to over charge us by three times the original amount. TYhe Vietnamese are very bad at trying to rip off the tourists but we are a bit canny now so got the price back to a reasonable one. We walked over the Tang Tren bridge back towards our hotel and called into a bar called DMZ for some pretty bad food and a beer. We had acouple of cocktails in the Why Not bar nearer to our hotal then headed back. Opposite our hotel was a hairdresser and Phil went to get his head shaved. They quoted a really high price but we negotiated to a more reasonalbe cost and he sat to be shaved. Once his head had been shaved the woman asked if he wanted his ears doing. Thinking she meant shaving the ears too we said yes. She disappeared for a couple of minutes then returned with a head torch on her head and had loads of long surgical looking instruments in her hands. Before he could argue Phil was at the mercy of the woman who frankly didn't look too well trained at poking things into ears. They dont have cotton buds here it seems only poky things. She took great pleasure in showing me what she had dug out !! After that ordeal another girl suddenly slapped a load of cream all over his face and proceeded to massage him. He had n all over massage with electric machine pummelling. Liz was in fits watching as he really didn't enjoy any of it. Finally they both attacked his fingers and toes to trim them, not a good job at all. At the end of that we weren't laughing when they announced a huge bill fotunately not too huge for us but massive money in VIetnam. We were so annoyed as we had been stung so we went off to bed .

18th October 2009 Hue

"same, same but different" We woke up and it was raining badly again. We had breakfast and were picked up for a half day boat trip. We sat on the bus and were handed an itinerary for a full day bus and boat tour. Happy days for us , we finally had something in Vietnam which wasn't ripping us off ! The firat thing on the itinerary was a visit to a village where the conical hats are made. We watched some being made and also saw incense sticks being made. There were loads of little shops selling all kinds of handicrafts but it was raining so hard we all took shelter in the one and stayed there until the bus left. Next we set off to visit three tombs of former emporers along the river. Ther are many buried around Hue and we saw the best preserved three.First we visited the tomb of Tu Duc which is a huge area of woodland with a large lake and parkland. All the kings concubines lived at the tomb complex once he died too and it was a great place to live. It stopped raining as we left there and the sun finally came out...hurrah ! Next we visited Khai Dihns tomb which was up a really steep flight of stairs but it was fantastic once you got to the top. The whole tomb building was huge and completely lined with ceramic mosaics and gold. After looking around for a while we left to visit the final tomb of Minh Mang. It was very different again and beautiful grounds with a hidden burial mound behind huge gates like the secret garden. All the tombs were worth visiting as they were so different from each other and really lovely. We have noticed that the old relics here aren't particularly well looked after and they all seem quite unloved and none are very old either. The tombs appeared much older than their 100 or so years of age. They would be really impressive if a bit of money could be spent on them but Vietnam is trying to become a modern nation after the war and money doesn't go to ancient artefacts as thats not a priority. We then headed back into town for lunch which would have been lovely if it wasn't all so cold. It was very tasyt and lots of choices though so no complaining. After lunch we went to visit the royal citadel in the centre of Hue, where it started to rain again. Only about 40% of the royal city remains after the American war. Within the innewr citadel is the walled Forbidden city ( Tu Cam Thanh) which was an area seperated for the private life of the royal family. The only visitors allowed were eunochs who were no threat to the concubines. The citadel was an Imperial city from 1802-1945 when Ho Chi Minh called an end to the monarchy in favour of communist rule. Our tour guide was really excellent with very good english. He explained all the ares we visited which were the royal theatre and library plus other remains from the families home. We walked through some gardens back to the main gateway where it started to really pour with rain. We then went to visit the Thien Mu pagoda which is Hues most stunning pagoda. It has 11 levels and two buildings on either side of ot containing a statue of a turtle and a huge bell. You are supposed to stroke the turtles nose three times and hit the bell for luck. Phil did it so now thinks he has loads of good luck. Liz got it wrong so we are waiting for her bad luck to come. The pagoda was the home of Thich Quang Duc who publicly burned himself to death in protest at the government policies in 1963 !! Next we had a short boat ride along the formally beautiful perfume river, now a brown torrent in the rain to Hue agin. We got off the boat and waded through the ankle deep puddles to the street where we bought a few UFOs (unidentified fried objects) from a street stall. The woman charged us a stupid price for it..they see the westerners coming a mile off and quadruple the price. When we got back to the hotel we went for showers and then headed out into the rain for some reaL food. We ate at Missy Roos a strange mix of Australian and Vietnamese decor and food. Phil ordered a "Vietnamese special chicken" dish from the menu which looked like delicious fried chicken pieces but when it came was actually boiled chicken and onions !!! After tea we went off to write the blog and bed.