UADarthmaul's Travels: Vietnam 3: Hue Tombs and a crappy Citadel

Before I go on to talk about today's adventures, I wanted to talk a little bit about motorbikes and women. Everyone here owns a motorbike/moped/scooter. Very, very few own a car. There seems to be almost no actual rules of the road. People drive on the left and drive on the right. They stop and go wherever they want, weaving amongst each other. There can be an entire family on a single motorcycle. The parents wear helmets, but the kids do not. Everyone wears masks over their faces, which makes it look like the streets are filled with ninjas on motorcycles. Finally, the oddest thing about the motorcycles is in regards to women. Men wear short sleeves and shorts. Women wear long sleeves, long pants, and hoodies or hats. Apparently, women in Vietnam feel that light skin is more attractive and therefore block the sun completely in order to keep their skin lighter. To wear such heavy outfits is absolute lunacy. Even our biker guide wore sweat pants and a few layers of shirts. The guys do not care, so they wear whatever they want.

We started the day at 8:00 AM, driving to Hue. We stopped shortly after leaving to take photos of a small mountain with shrines and a pagoda on top. There was an elevator to the side of the mountain.

At the halfway point, we stopped again, to take a break. I walked along a narrow bit of beach in the middle of the water. I found a crab.

Once we entered the vicinity of Hue, we visited the tomb of Khai Dinh. It was a fairly large installation. The inside was absolutely beautiful. Stephanie had brought a shirt to change it, that I ended up carrying. Once we were back outside, she asked where the shirt was. I figured that the dead king must have requested a modern shirt for the afterlife. Stephanie had me go back and retrieve it.

Next, we went to Tu Duc's Tomb. This one was across a larger stretch of land, but was less impressive. However, there was a beautiful small island that our guide claimed was where the king kept his pets.

Just before arriving at the hotel, our guide showed us around a local market. He identified the fruits that we had been unable to identify. Stephanie tried some sugary bean soup. The inside was incredible narrow and was filled with women shop owners who were all laying down in their shops.

Hue itself is just like any other city I've been to. Lots of buildings and nothing particularly unique to its buildings. It was the former capital city.

However, once you cross the river, you can see the massive complex of the former royal palace. While the outside structures and initial buildings seemed promising, the rest was full of empty fields and closed off buildings. It was a big disappointment. One of the highlights was getting to see two chickens in the palace grounds. Luckily, we are only staying here one night.

Before heading off to what would become a big disappointment, we had lunch. We tried a rice pancake and spring rolls. The spring rolls were a bit different than those that I have tried in the US. I also had a chicken and mushroom soup, while Stephanie had a vegetarian noodle dish.