Hue once served as the political capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945 under 13 emperors. Today it is no longer a capital, but a crumbling world heritage site spread out in and around the new expanding city.

We only had one night in Hue so had to be specific with our time, with time short we made use of the guesthouse staff and hired two of them and their scooters to take us around two of the sights.

Before we set out on our trip which would be in the afternoon we took a short walk to the Citadel which is housed within a high wall, as this was at one time the imperial city. In terms of modern day cities this would be like a village in comparison. The Vietnamese claim that this was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war and that it destroyed much of the Citadel, we however only managed to find on part of the wall that looked anything like it had been hit by a bomb or any other object. This adding to the fact that so far we have seen heavy claims regarding the American impact on Vietnam but little evidence to support the claims and incase you are wondering it hasn’t had reconstruction of any kind. So we will keep on in search of some truth about the war.

On the first part of our scooter tour that afternoon we visited was Tu Hieu Pagoda, the Pagoda is is surrounded by trees with a big Koi pond in the middle which as you would expect from a Koi pond is full of Koi Carp.

Groups of young monks sit around in the gardens of the Pagoda drinking coconut milk and studying Buddhism. The Pagoda itself is quite small but with the combined grounds around it and the several dozen stupa (above ground housing for a persons ashes), the whole thing becomes quite big.

Housing several Buddha images and statues the inside of the Pagoda was almost identical the inners of Wats and Temples in Thailand and Laos, so it seems that somewhere in the wash they have all at one time or another been united in the way they build their vision of Buddha and worship surroundings. One quite worrying thing that you can see in the pictures is what appears to be the swastika symbol on the chest of the gold Buddha and he roof of the Pagoda. We couldn’t get find get an answer as to what this actually meant to the Vietnamese mainly as their English didn’t stretch to this kind of explanation.

Before getting to the second of our planned stops, our drivers took us to see how the incense sticks used in the Pagodas and Temples are made. It’s a very simple process to make these, but there is a knack to it which we didn’t quite have! Ours ended up a little fat and twisted or thin and short, judge for yourself when you see the pictures. The coating is made from glue, cinnamon, water and some other powder which the name of escapes us, but the glue water and the unamed powder makes a thick paste which you roll around the sticks with a trowel type object. You then roll the stick and paste in the cinnamon to complete the incense stick.

Our next stop was the Tomb of Emperor Tu Duc, one of the 13 previous rulers of Hue when it was the capital. The site as you would expect is Majestic, laced with pine trees and set alongside a small tranquil lake. The buildings are beautifully designed and are so old that some are currently supported by scaffolding (or bamboo here) while undergoing repairs as they are simply crumbling away.

Other than the Emperors tomb there are several others around the grounds, these are not marked as to who is in them but are most likely family members. The tombs including the Emperors are all set in individual courtyards that have a wall or two just inside the entrance so blocking direct view to the tomb until you walk around the wall, thus giving privacy to the occupant. Now you may think it odd that we mentioned the Toms are in courtyards or you may think we meant the entrance is in a courtyard, well you would be right about both. The thing that really confused us though was that the Tomb is basically a decorated concrete coffin set in the centre of the courtyard and that’s it! No underground area with a small tunnel to stop the body being stolen as they are in Egypt, no cave in a cliff side as they are in Peru, nothing that resembles any other Tomb in its well known sense.

To the front of the Emperors Tomb and the Pagoda and protecting walls is a set of guards and elephants lined down either side of the courtyard and these are made from stone but with excellent intricate detail and facial expression. They are set this way as they would have been when awaiting their next command from the Emperor, or when simply protecting his residence.

The next day when we moved south the Hoi An the bus made two drop offs, one was at a hotel on the edge of the town and the other was at the far side of town meaning you would have to get transport into town. Although the hotel at the first stop seemed pricey it was very nice, almost luxury compared t some place we have stayed in so we took the easy option and stayed there.
The hotel offered free bikes for us to get to town so after a shower and change we headed out on town exploration, soon to find out that staying in the town would have been some what more expensive than staying where we were and had a lot less to offer.

On our next day we went round the sights of Hoi An, we visited the Japanese covered bridge that started construction in the year of the monkey and ended in the year of the dog: thus one entrance is guarded by monkeys and the other by dogs. (neither side is willing to talk). The reason the bridge is covered with a roof is because it has a small temple built into its side, which appears that some sort of prayer used to be made here when passing in or out of the old town.

Also in the old town is Tan Ky House, a 19th century house that belonged to a Vietnamese merchant but the architecture is of Japanese and Chinese influence. A second very old wood fronted house was in the old town in March 2008 when a guide book was written but has since become so old that it fell down, so now is just a pile of rubble waiting to be cleared!

At night time the old town takes on a vibrant atmosphere with its trees strewn with lanterns and lights and various important animal lit shapes in the river, giving off a flickering reflection that makes a dining experience on the river side a must for most visitors. We did find however that getting excited about seeing a western style meal on the menu is nothing to be excited about as the Vietnamese simply cant cook them. So its best to stick with the local style Asian food even if you are sick of the sight of rice and noodles, as almost every dish is served with one of the two and that includes breakfast.

The morning before we left for Hoi An we took to the free bikes again and rode to the beach, the accessible are was pristine with a very calm sea and panoramic view. He down side was that some locals had decided to attempt to fool you in to thinking you could only park bikes under their shelters approaching the beach and not on the grass or road in front of the beach. Luckily we were only coming for a look and not staying so didn’t leave our bikes, but as we got to the beach a bit passed the scammers we found you could stop there as we thought.

After dinch and a few hours loading stuff onto the blog site we boarded our bus for our overnight journey to our next stop, as this was another sleeper bus the journey shouldn’t be too bad as long as we could get to sleep. So we will let you know later.