Hue

We had a couple days in Hue to wander around the city. We spent one afternoon going to the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City and wandering around the complex- most of the buildings were destroyed over the years, so there's really not a whole lot to see. Jim spent the afternoon trying to decide how many concubines he wants to have when he becomes king of some unknown land (more like planet in all likelihood.) :)

Then we went looking for the Citadel- which we found according to the map and what we were told- but it turns out that this is really just an area from what we can tell and was turned in to a university at some point. So there's not really anything to see from what we could find. So we walked a lot and then had dinner at a restaraunt that had traditional music playing while we ate- the food was okay and the music was entertaining.


We stayed at a place called New Time Hotel and it was fantastic (probably made all the better by the less than okay places we have just stayed at while in Vietnam.) Mr. Duy who manages the hotel was very helpful, picked us up from the bus, made any arrangements that we needed. The room was big and clean and they even had fresh mangoes waiting in the room for us. :) And as I mentioned before- an elevator which was a plus. :)

We also took a day tour the next day and went to see some of the tombs of past kings, as well as a boat ride down the Perfume River- and we didn't know this- but the tour also went back to the Imperial Palace- so I'd recommend skipping this on your own and doing it with the tour. The tombs were pretty- the grounds are quite extensive. It's been raining a lot while we've been in Vietnam- but I don't mind- it keeps the temperature cool. But that's why most of our pictures look a little soggy...

A short note- I had a massage while in Hue, and it was at a hotel a few doors down from our hotel. I'm not sure if it's like this all over Vietnam, and the massage was fine itself- but it was an odd experience. There is not much covering while you are on the table like most people are used to, so I would say this is probably not the place to get a massage. And the woman I had talked so much- which for those of you who know me- I pretty much prefer to just go to sleep during my massage while I have the knots beat out of me. And the language barrier made it very difficult- she was either telling me she loves me or she's looking for a boyfriend that loves her since the last one I think beat her- I'm not sure- it gave me a headache. At least my calves felt better afterwards I guess.