3 nights in Hue

Still a bit sick, we arrived at our hotel in Hue after a 4-hour bus ride and a 1-hour flight followed by an overpriced taxi ride, and we were pleasantly surprised: by chance, we chose a super clean hotel with soft (!!!) beds, where the very friendly staff also spoke English. A relief to finally be able to recuperate.

The next morning, we fortified ourselves with a good breakfast and set out to visit the former Imperial Palace. It is huge, 10km long and wide, and was heavily destroyed in some places. However, much is still preserved, and thanks to the audio guide, we gained insight into the former life and work of the emperors and kings, whose era ended in 1945 with the independence of Vietnam.

Next, we wanted to visit the local market halls. What we found was a mass of overcrowded stalls with an abundance of offerings that we couldn't even see because it was so crowded. In addition, a crazy woman in a pink tracksuit began to chase us through the market after offering us to visit her clothing stand on the first floor at the entrance. Shouting 'Tina and Pina, come see my clothes, very good price', she followed us through the entire market, and even at the exit, she suddenly reappeared :D surprisingly, we didn't buy anything from her :D

We ended the evening on one of the Walking Streets, where unfortunately, no one spoke English, so we received food and drinks that we didn't even order :D unfortunately, we got a bad sunburn that day and look like striped squirrels-tomatoes... Well, we convince ourselves that it will quickly turn into a tan :D

The next day, we decided to visit 3 famous imperial tombs (well sunprotected). These tombs were built according to the respective emperor's preferences during their lifetime. The first stop was the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang, an emperor from the early 19th century who had 500 wives and concubines and 142 children. Our tour guide's approving remark was repeatedly 'very powerful man'... We would probably rather say 'womanizer who had things other than state affairs in mind', but to his credit, it must be said that he brought prosperity and stability to the country through many reforms. His tomb is a long and beautiful path with various houses and waters, symbolizing the transition from earthly to heavenly life. It is really peaceful there, and Christina pursued her new passion once again: feeding oversized goldfish :D

We continued to the tomb of Khai Dinh. The emperor was strongly influenced by French culture, and his imposing but difficult to climb tomb is reminiscent of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. However, it was difficult to take a photo there without Chinese tourists with umbrellas, but we made it! Finally, we visited the tomb of the penultimate emperor, Tu Duc, whose tomb is surrounded by small lakes and lots of nature. Even during his lifetime, he spent time there to escape from the palace and write poems. He was heavily oppressed by the French colonial rulers and preferred to write poetry rather than fight, so he is not highly regarded among the Vietnamese.

Back in Hue, we took a boat trip along the Perfume River to the most famous Buddhist pagoda. It is beautiful but full of tourists taking family photos at every tree and unfortunately, without information signs, so you don't learn much about the pagoda.

Once we arrived back at the riverside, we wanted to relax for a moment, but it was short-lived. An older man came with his young student and asked us to communicate with her a little in English as she wanted to improve her English in order to get one of the 'well-paid' jobs in tourism. It quickly became apparent that her big dream is to travel to Paris one day, and she is also learning French, so I showed her photos of the city, and we spoke for a while in French... A crazy but beautiful situation :)

Currently, we are sitting on the train to Da Nang and traveling through the mountains along the coast, crossing the so-called 'Hai Van Pass'. Let's see if the route lives up to what the report on ARTE (seen by CHRISTINA) promises....!