Hue

Our journey from Saigon to Hue begins at 11:00pm at night. We are taking the train and we opted to go with the soft sleeper. A soft sleeper is a small compartment which has four beds, 2 up and lower bunks, with “soft” mattress. We find ours and we share with a local grandmother and her 5 year old grandson. They have a lower bunk, Tim takes the bunk above them and I sleep above Jeff. Since the train leaves so late at night we are happy to turn off the lights and sleep as soon as the train leaves the station. I would say we had a decent night sleep all things considered.
When we woke we were able to watch the countryside pass and was it ever gorgeous. We did encounter rain on our journey north but of course it did not bother us we were on the train rolling on down the line. We brought our own food onboard so were able to enjoy it at our leisure. The entire trip takes 18 hours, which gives us plenty of time to play cards, backgammon, read and catch up on our journals. When the train makes a stop you are able to hop off and buy something, so of course Jeff and Tim got their morning coffee. Jeff truly enjoys the way the Vietnamese do their coffee with the sweetened condensed milk.
We arrive in Hue and the weather is a bit drizzly but not enough to really get you wet. We find a room and head out to find dinner. We have misjudged where our hotel is on the map and have no idea what part of town we are in. Apparently we are across the river 10 minutes walk from the main downtown, but we did not figure this out until the next day. Well, we found dinner and it was our first adventure in dining. Menu had no English nor did anyone in the restaurant speak English. Using our travel book we attempt to order things we think we know. We get a beef hot pot, which was fabulous, and ordered a pork dish and some fried rice. We did not know how the pork was prepared and when it came to the table we wondered what part of the pig it could be???? Our best guess was it was the tail! So, we tried a bite but….did not really like it. So next was the fried rice. They brought 3 plates over! Now we have way too much food, good thing we have a fridge in the room and take the left over sack to our room.
After our adventuresome start our first evening, we rent bicycles from our hotel and head off to really discover Hue. We head with a map into the main town area. Riding a bicycle can be a challenge when the traffic (both cars and motorbikes) clog the streets. We make our way to the Citadel, which dates back to 1804 and Emperor Gia Long. The Citadel is a very large moat enclosed complex, with a imperial enclosure “Forbidden Purple City”, in which the emperor lived. Currently there is a lot of renovation happening at this site, and it appears they are doing quite a nice job as many areas that are complete are stunning.
After spending several hours exploring the gardens and ceremonial areas of the Citadel we bicycle 4km southwest to the Thien Mu Pagoda. This a lovely Pagoda with many Chinese influences sits on the banks of the Song Huong River. Jeff visited Hue 13 years ago and says although there are changes it has not really changes that much.

~Karen~