Hue

Having not got much sleep on the overnight bus we arrived in Hue (pronounced H’way) to be greeted by a horde of hotel reps, cyclo drivers, motorbike taxis and an assortment of other people trying to make money off the influx of tourists. After we convinced one of the reps that we already had a booking somewhere else he finally accepted defeat and offered to show us to our actual hotel. It turns out he was in fact just leading us directly to his hotel hoping we wouldn’t notice. Eventually we reached the Binh Duong Hotel 2 which we had pre-booked and checked into our room to find that not only did we have a spare bed but also a balcony. We may have paid a little too much for this one, but at least the man behind reception said I was beautiful.

Linz on one of many bridges to the town's Citadel

As we had arrived very early in the morning we still had the entire day to explore so headed towards the main street in our area of town to find a restaurant based on a Lonely Planet recommendation. Initially we couldn’t find it but we ran into a local English teacher who helped, but he left disappointed that we had no English currency he could buy from us for his daughter’s collection. The restaurant was worth searching for in the extreme heat and even though we only had an omelette and a panini we judged it good enough to go back to later in our stay.

Following this we headed north over the river and found a local market to wander around. The market was a maze of tight stalls selling all the usual stuff (fruit and vegetables, Vietnamese t-shirts, and fake North Face bags) but what made this one different was the unbearable heat. The entire market was covered by corrugated iron sheets which created an intense greenhouse effect. We were followed, as we walked between the stalls, by a local lady with very good English who, like most hawkers, would ask the usual questions (Where are you from? How long are you in Hue? etc) combined with unrelenting complements before convincing us to visit her shop. When we reached her stall she did at east have a silk scarf which, following a strong debut negotiating performance from Linz, we bought. The lady also tried to press a shirt on me which I had only a little interest in so made an outrageously low offer assuming she wouldn’t accept. Of course when she agreed I had a very difficult time getting away especially as we were surrounded by her entire family.

Sheet metal roofing covering the boiling market below

From the market we headed into the Citadel which is an area of the city, surrounded by a 10km wall, which was largely destroyed during the Vietnam War due to its position on the North/South border. Having ignored the cries for attention from many cyclo drivers offering one hour tours, we entered the city and headed towards the palace in the centre described as the citadel-within-a-citadel. At the main gate, located next to a very impressive 38 metre high flag pole, we paid about £1.50 to enter and were allowed to roam the grounds for as long as we wanted.

This photo took a while to manage

Despite the number of remaining, restored and ruined buildings we could have seen we opted for a bench next to an ice cream stall as the heat was really getting to us. At least from here we could watch Japanese tourists taking holiday photos dangerously close to the elephants within the walls which were available to ride. We wandered around the grounds for a good hour or two taking in the impressive restored building but finding more interest in the remains of old buildings lost during the war as until this point we hadn’t seen must evidence of the conflict.

Inside the citadel which was full of buildings prior to the war

That evening we returned to the main street where we had eaten breakfast and visited another Lonely Planet recommendation. This was a big moment as Linz tried her first local food; sweet and sour pork. This proved to be a success along with my beef wrapped in banana leaves.  The following day we revisited the same restaurant as the previous day for breakfast before boarding a relatively short bus journey to Hoi An, four hours to the south. Little happened on the trip except we had to contend with upper bunks resulting in Linz dropping a full bottle of water on a local.