Hue, Vietnam – March 18th – 22nd, 2017

An uneventful short train trip dropped us in Hue, the old empirical city of Vietnam. We spent three full days in Hue walking around the city and visiting the temples, gates, palaces, and buildings in the citadel. We also spent a day on motorbikes touring the tombs of dead kings. Although the hordes of tour buses seemed to be stalking us, with the aid of our trusty travel blog (Travelfish), we managed to find some completely abandoned tombs which were just as impressive as the pay sites with buses parked outside (and without the annoyance of endless tourists with their selfie sticks). Overall, the 1800’s architecture throughout the citadel and tombs were much more “Chinese” than we expected (higher quality than the products influenced by China today though). Sadly, the majority of historic sites in and around Hue suffered massive losses during the Vietnam war (due to Hue’s proximity to the DMZ) and consequently either lie in ruins or have been repaired/rebuilt.

Being a touristy city, the food was full of comfort – French bakeries, “Mexican” food, pizza (2x), Indian food, and supermarket baguettes lathered in peanut butter and jelly. A guilty realization as I write this blog: I don’t think we ate Vietnamese food the entire time. 

Around Hue.

The Hue Citadel.

The Hue Citadel.

The non-touristy tomb. Also the oldest tomb around Hue.

The touristy tomb. Also the newest tomb around Hue.