Welcome to Hue, capitol city in the time that the emperors ruled over Vietnam. Since it once was the capitol city there are quite some interesting cultural sites to visit, some better preserved from the war with the USA than others. The citadel, the former old city and palace of the emperor, the part of the city which we expected to be our highlight, turned out not to be so well preserved from the war. We were warned that the citadel was bombed pretty badly by the US, but that the Vietnamese had worked hard since to restore the site. Some temples were nice, but the Forbidden City, which is the part where the emperor and his family used to live, was basically more or less an open field. That was a shame of course. Luckily one day, on our way to lunch we met a nice local guy that proposed to take us on a tour on his motorbike. The advantage is that you have your own personal tour guide, you can bargain for a good price and you can choose what you would like to see. After agreeing on everything a friend of his popped up with a second motorbike, as we were not so keen on sharing one with three persons. The disadvantage is that you are all of a sudden in the middle of crazy Vietnamese traffic. As there not really rules in traffic here, you just come and go as you please and the one that is either the biggest or just honks the loudest has priority. I thought closing my eyes would be a good solution, but I discovered that my driver conveniently started to read and send some text messages, so I figured it would be a better idea when at least one of us kept their eyes on the road just in case! I got a bit stressed as well when we were getting on what seemed to be a highway, but funnily I started to relax when I saw a herd of cows coming into our direction thinking ?oh ok it is that kind of highway!?. After a few minutes I stopped freaking out though and started to finally enjoy the ride. It really turned out to be a great afternoon actually, leaving town, driving through tiny villages and Vietnamese rice fields, to enjoy some great sights. The best thing we saw was the tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh, which we liked much more than what remains of the Citadel. It was not only a tomb, but more a whole temple and surrounding grounds all dedicated to a great emperor that once ruled over this interesting country.

Apart from the cultural sites you can visit around Hue, we enjoyed the daily Vietnamese lifestyle. Things on the streets that we see, that are so different from our habits, it makes travelling so interesting. We always try not to forget to take pictures of that as well, so that we can share as much of our experiences with you as we can!

Tam Biet!
Charlotte and Franjo