Hue (Central Vietnam Days 2 -3)

April 15 Day 2 

We were supposed to arrive around 9:30am but we got there maybe an hour late. I didn't expect to see my hotel pickup anymore. And I was right. No one was there to pick me up. But it was okay, I approached a green Mai Linh taxi and showed him the address to Than Thien Hotel. In a few minutes we were there and I paid only 30.000 VND. I swore to myself when I get back to Hanoi I won't ride a motorbike again lol. The hotel was great! But more on that on a separate post. I decided to start my tour after 1pm. I arranged it at the reception desk and got a package to visit 3 tombs and the Thien Mu Pagoda for $15 USD.

Tomb of Kai Dinh 

There were a few people when I got there. The place itself is small and a few minutes is enough to go around. The tomb itself is impressive though. Just look at the photos below. I didn't have to stay more than 15 minutes there but then I happened to ask this guy ( who I saw was taking his own photo using the timer haha) to take my photo. He was looking at the photo he took of me and said something's wrong with my camera. I realized that too cos my shots were too dark but then I attributed that to weather and the absence of the sun. So I told him it could either be the setting on my camera or the weather. He was trying to correct the setting, I was kinda shy cause I know he was using Canon and mine was Nikon and I thought he'd have a hard time but then we ended up sitting down and had a 20 minute impromptu photography tutorial. Can't remember his name now but he was English. John I think his name was. This is what's nice about travelling solo, meeting people otherwise you would never have met in your life.

Tomb of Minh Mang

This has got to be my favorite amongst the Royal Tombs. The tomb is actually located inside a forest. It was already late in the afternoon, the cool wind was blowing, I had the place all to myself. Just me, the birds, the trees, the setting sun, and the ancient place. It was calm and peaceful. I loved it. If I wasn't pressed for time, I wanted to spend an entire lazy afternoon there. I imagined if I was a local Vietnamese girl, this is where I'd go for a date, have some picnic by the lake or something. Except, the entrance fee cost 80.000 VND. But yeah. 

 

Tomb of Tu Duc

The driver actually suggested that we skip Tu Duc and try two other places instead since what I'd see there is almost the same as the other two tombs. I didn't want to skip anything on my IT however since I didn't wanna have regrets later on so I told him I'd rather drop by. I guess the reason why he wanted me to skip it was primarily because the area was huge and he knew it'd take me a long time to see it. And it was getting really late. Well, he was right too but I still wanted to see it for myself :)

Thien Mu Pagoda

The car on the cover of Rage Against The Machine's first album. 

After the tour, the driver offered to bring me to two more Pagoda for 80.000 VND. He was really nice so I thought might as well anyway.

Bao Quoc Pagoda

This is where I met my first real monk and had a photo with him too! He was just sitting there on the hood of his bike in front of this gate almost as if waiting for this moment to arrive hahhaah! That's just me being melodramatic. But hey, the driver knew they leave at that hour so it was just perfect timing. Such a surreal experience. He was so cool :)

Tu Dam Pagoda

We were done shortly after 5pm. He drove me back to the hotel but dropped me off at a restaurant right across it since I told him I need someplace to eat. He gave me his contact information and I told him to set up an email address if he want people to contact him directly. I knew he was only getting a small cut off what we pay the hotel. I guess he had no idea how but he said he's ask one of his daughters to do it for him. I asked him to order for me to save me the chore of ordering for myself. I asked him to stay but I guess he had to get back to his family. The food was great by the way, although I don't know what it's called.

40.000 VND

I had to check how much money I had left on me haha:)

I went back to the hotel, backed up my photos and decided to rest before I head out again to check out Truong Tien bridge. I've read about how it changes color and I wanna capture it on film. I didn't realize however that they shut it off at 8pm haha. I got there at half past 8 so all I saw was a bridge in the dark lol. I had a nice walk going there though so it was okay. I tried looking for the night market they told me about at the hotel but I couldn't find it. I tried asking to no avail. I didn't wanna draw attention to myself waving my map around so I gave up and called it a night. There were some souvenirs being sold beside the river and I was thinking that could be it anyway. On the way back to the hotel, I bought some local breads. I love breads.

April 16 Day 3

The Citadel
Ticket Price: 105.000 VND

I wanna slap myself in the head. I woke up late, almost missed the free breakfast too. It was my second and last day in Hue and I had reserved the entire morning for the Citadel. As it were, I got to the heritage site at around 10am. The bus bound for Hoi An was picking me up at 12:10nn. Darn! Well, I couldn't really blame myself can I? I was tired from the train ride plus that tomb raiding race that would give Lara Croft a run for her money haha. Anyway, I tried to see as much as I could in a span of 2 hours. It was tiring and I wish I had more time to stop and just soak it all in. But I didn't have the luxury of time and ended up not covering the right side of the walled city. Just got lucky I had turned to the more scenic side unknowingly. I had fun going into arches after arches and discovering gardens, temples, and palaces behind them.  

During my visit, there was also a group of veterans visiting the ruins. I got two of them in the previous photos. Sorry it was taken stealthily, I was just really touched then. I mean, I'm pretty sure they were transported back during the war, imagining bullets ricocheting through the wall and fighting alongside their comrades. 

Royal Palace

I really had fun going around. I felt like the girl in that book Secret Garden. I wanted to just sit and ponder upon the beauty of my surrounding, the architecture, the history, how life was back then. Ahh, but I didn't had the luxury of time. In fact, I was almost limping trying to hurry along when it was almost midday. The     vastness of the area just dawned on me then haha. Given another opportunity, I'd love to spend another day 

there but I think it was my first and last time in Hue. But who knew?!

At exactly 12 o'clock I was at one of the exits. I booked the bus bound for Hoi An at the hotel the previous day for $5 and I had 10 minutes to get back or else, I'd miss it. One of the moto drivers approached me and as I had expected, tried to charge me 100.000 VND. But by now I knew better, I put my foot down and insisted on 50.000VND saying I only paid xx amount to the taxi driver. They said something about how we were already at the other side of the gate but I had no time to argue. 50.000 VND is still too much anyway so I turned around and started looking for a taxi. They called me back and agreed on the price hehe. I managed to be back 5 minutes before the bus arrived. 

Hue to Hoi An is about 4 hours but it stretched to 5 since the bus went around picking people up from their hotels. The bus was quite a treat! As soon as I stepped on it I was puzzled since the bus driver was giving me a plastic bag. Turned out I had to take my shoes off and put it inside the bag. Me and the other tourists from my hotel were pleasantly surprised at our ride. For $5, we were not expecting this lol. I thought all the buses were like this but I found out during a 20-min stop that the others were not as comfortable. 

the sleeper bus for Hoi An! it was super comfortable. that's my feet  under the covers. 

lucky for me I got the lower seat.

Summary of Expenses:

Taxi Fare                                                                    30.000VND

3 Tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda (booked via hotel)     $15 USD

Kai Dinh Entrance Fee                                               80.000 VND

Minh Mang Entrance Fee                                           80.000 VND

Tu Duc Entrance Fee                                                 80.000 VND

Thien Mu Pagoda                                                       Free

Bao Quoc Pagoda                                                      Free 

Tu Dam Pagoda                                                          Free

The Citadel                                                                 105.000 VND

Taxi to the Citadel                                                       48.000 VND (?)

Motorbike fare from the Citadel back to hotel             50.000 VND

Bus Ticket for Hoi An                                                 $5
Noodle Soup                                                               40.000 VND
Bread  (I think one was 7.000VND but I can't recall)

Next: Hoi An http://ilovecoffee-oldworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/247-hoi-an.html