Monday, March 21, 2011

Hue... to go!

Hey folks, just arrived in Hoi An from Hue. It's a bit of a back track but the hotels here were full so I pushed on to Hue and then went south to Hoi An.
Looks like my blog is being difficult too! Well Hue is really a nice little place. I liked it a lot. I arrived over quite a daring train journey from Nha Trang. The line is elevated along cliffs and the coast and you look straight down out of the window to see the raging sea crashing on the rocks. It was really cold the day I arrived too, this weather is very unusual. I was rugged up in my thermals, and used my sleeping bag and two blankets the first night.
The next day I visited the citadel, pictured above. It is huge, this is just the first section. It goes on and on and on! Some of it restored, some of it still in ruins, and if you go back far enough into the complex you hit something very unexpected - a tennis court!

By yesterday it had warmed up and was over 30 degrees again. I took a long day tour on boat and bus to see some places of interest. This was not our boat, this one carried, well, dirt. I caught a martial arts display which was very impressive (I entered with cycnicism too!). When a guy can crush mutliple ceramic tiles with his forehead, you have to be impressed right? Okay, so our tour guide spoke too fast and departed too much information to take in, but it was a good day.

This photo is of the first tomb we saw - that of Minh Mang. Similar to the citadel, it was still very impressive. More so as it rested on it's side.

It was tombs tombs tombs in the afternoon as my energy level fell. I was hacked! But at least I got to see the beautiful tomb of Tu Doc, its expansive gardens and grounds. Before I knew it it was today and I was on the bus to Hoi An. The journies continue! Vietnam is continuing to prove and amazing place to travel. Easy travel, beautiful, wonderful warm people. On the first of April I will be heading to Laos. So just ten days left in this amazing country.....


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