March 27 - Hue, then Back to the Coast

In Hue, I stayed at a quite nice Gold Hotel for USD 17 and had one of the tastiest omelets ever for breakfast - I actually found the F&B manager to give a good word about this. Yet again, my laundry needed to be refreshed and found a place some 5 kilometers from the hotel. I asked the reception about it, they asked "why don't you go to the place opposite us?", yes, as luck would have it, there was a laundry just across the street, so that was ticked off my list. The next item was visiting the imperial palace, as Hue was the seat of the Nguyen dynasty from the beginning of the 19th century right till 1945.

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In Hue, I stayed at a quite nice Gold Hotel for USD 17 and had one of the tastiest omelets ever for breakfast - I actually found the F&B manager to give a good word about this. Yet again, my laundry needed to be refreshed and found a place some 5 kilometers from the hotel. I asked the reception about it, they asked "why don't you go to the place opposite us?", yes, as luck would have it, there was a laundry just across the street, so that was ticked off my list. The next item was visiting the imperial palace, as Hue was the seat of the Nguyen dynasty from the beginning of the 19th century right till 1945.

To cut a long story short, I was not really impressed. It is a large citadel, with the Forbidden City inside it - a place where only the emperor with his entourage was allowed to enter. That part was nice, but the rest of the palace, especially being a UNESCO Word Heritage site, was rather disappointing, with lot of construction going on - combined with dirt and dust. Actually, as I later found out, the entire place had been destroyed a couple of times, in the war against the French, then again with the Americans, so most of it was a reconstruction. I was told to budget half a day for the citadel, I was done in just over an hour.

The citadel

Entrance to the compound

Inside the Forbidden Palace - it was forbidden to take a photo, but I still did

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Local visitors outside

Looking back at the compound

Leaving the complex turned out to be a good idea - outside I found a lot more things to see compared to construction workers and tourist groups. I first saw a monk who actually spoke a few words of English, then sat in a coffee, drinking an excellent fruit juice (OK, two), with youngsters loudly enjoying life, then I saw a local wedding.

Youngester at a market not worrying too much about life

A wedding

Next to the palace was a museum boasting conquered American military equipment - planes and tanks. The caption was quite interesting, apparently American imperialism is not something beloved in Vietnam.

Stuff captured from the US

American Imperialist, American Imperialists

I went back to the hotel, exchanged some money (took quite a long time and the rate was not as good as at the airport), picked up my laundry and left town. I was yet again riding near the coast, on a road that was rather boring at the beginning, but got quite nice later. The main road led through a tunnel where no motorbikes or bikes were allowed, so the two-wheelers had to ride through an old pass. I started the uphill close to 6 pm and as you by now know, that is when the sun sets. A Polish tourist on his motorbike assured me that it wasn't all too steep of an uphill - and he was right. An hour later, I was already at the top, from where it was a fun descent - there was not a lot of traffic.

Little girls fell asleep

The view from the bottom of the pass

Well, not much can be seen, but this was the coastline from the top of the pass

Arriving at the a town at the bottom, I had a great dinner on the side of the street, once again sitting on a tiny chair, with the locals giggling. It was something sweet, have really no idea as to what it was. Then it was time to find an accommodation - we were not far from the third largest cities in Vietnam, Da Nang and there were a number of resorts. I checked in to a place called The Nature Villas Resort for about Eur 30, quite empty, I was taken to my spacious room with a golf cart. The resort was a bit strange, the rooms on one side of a major, 6-lane highway, the restaurant and the beach on the other - and the easiest way to get around was with the golf cart (they did not let the me ride my bike in the compound). I had a good rest.