Hue

After spending 5 days in Hanoi, we flew south to Hue, which is in Central Vietnam.  Hue is the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam, so it has alot of historical sites.  We originally planned to stay for 3 days, but had to extend a day due to an attack of gastrointestinal issues.

Since the sights in Hue are spread apart, we decided to do a motorbike tour.  

Basically, you hire a tour guide with a motorbike and he takes you around the country side to visit a few sights around Hue.  Here we are with our guides:

       

Mr Ty (think Mr. T of the A-Team)                             Mr. Hai (as in hi, hello)

It was the first time Andy and I rode on motorcycles, and I have to say, it was definitely the way to go.  With a motorbike, you can go on the little dirt country roads and see parts of the country that would be difficult to reach in a car.  

Rice farmer floating through the rice paddies

Covered bridge

Covered bridge from afar

After visiting the bridge and a little agricultural museum in the village, we drove to a Buddhist temple/monastery that was hidden in the woods.

Entrance to the temple


Monks praying.  Note the awesome hair style on the junior monk in the back.
Apparently hair (or the lack of hair) indicates seniority.


Peaceful pond and bridge in the monastery

Next we drove to the incense and conical hat making "village".  Really, it was a bunch of stores on the side of the road. They were making incense and let me have a try.

Here I am, getting a lesson in making incense



Andy joining in the tea party

Continuing along, we rode to the Tu Duc Mausoleum.  Around Hue, there are about 13 mausoleums of the former emperors of Vietnam.  The largest and most famous is that of Tu Duc.   He had 103 wives who are all buried on the grounds along with him.

      

After finishing up there, we grabbed a quick bowl of pho and rode to the Forbidden Purple City.  It's where the emperor ruled from.  Unfortunately, many of the buildings were demolished by warfare.  It's only about 200 years old, but seemed much older because most of it was destroyed and the remaining structures are not very well kept.  It reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing, but on a much smaller scale.

Entrance to the Forbidden City

In the courtyard


Halls of the Manadarins

Our final stop was at the Heavenly lady pagoda.  By this time, we were a bit pagoda'd and temple'd out, so I didn't take many pictures.

After a fun day of touring, our guides dropped us off at our hotel, but not before taking a posed picture of us on their bikes.

(cue: baaaaaad to the bone)

As for the rest of our stay in Hue, we ended up spending an extra day holed up in the hotel due to upset stomachs.  Andy had it worse than me so while he rested, I went out and got my hair cut, did a little shopping, and ate some good food.  You can check out the rest of my Hue photos here.  After a day of rest, we were back in action and flew out Ho Chi Minh City to wrap up our tour of Vietnam.  More about that in the next post!