Hue, the imperial city. We arrived at a rainy week so we didn’t enjoy it to the fullest. The citadel of the once capital of the last dynasty before french occupation isn’t well restored. It meant a lot of mud in some areas and harder to explore. Overall it was another good piece in the puzzle of understanding Vietnamese history. Hue served also as the education city of the leaders from both North and South Vietnam in their civil war.
The combined ticket allowed entry to both hue imperial city, and the masoleums which are a bit outside the city. We had a grab driver take us to the first one, but he waited for us to finish. Er ended up going with him to our two stops and back to the city very cheaply. One masoleum
was showing more chinese confucuist architecture and balance with nature. The other one, on the other hand, more brutualist tall mountain of stone.
We also celebrated new year, with a big stage set on a main road and many people celebrating, countdown at midnight and some fireworks.
Around our hotel we were able to find decent food, and some tasty vegetarian options too. Overall, Hue, the imperial city, treated us nicely. I’m happy we got to celebrate new year there and not in the remote, highly humid village Phong Nha, Vietnam were we were previously.
We then hopped on the train to Da Nang, going through mountain side and ocean cliff views, to end up in touristy picturesque Hoi An, not before driving on the dragon bridge in Da Nang.