Day 82: Hue (The Imperial City)

Breakfast was once again at the hotel this morning, and then we were on the bus by 8am to head to Hue. The bus ride was about four hours long, during which I slept. We did, however, have to cross over a mountain along the way and we stopped at the top to use the bathroom and look at the views, which were simply amazing. You could see the ocean, the skyline, and so many more mountains in the distance. There were a lot of vendors stationed at the top, but I managed to avoid all of them. There was also a bunker that was used by the French and United States during the war as a way to control who entered Central Vietnam. We made one other stop during our bus journey at the bottom of the mountain, where we got to take some pictures of a fishing village.

We arrived at our hotel in Hue around 12:30pm and lunch was by ourselves. I went with everyone to a vegetarian restaurant, but nothing looked really good. When Cate and Alex were done eating, we walked around the streets a little bit. Hue is very different Hoi An; it's not at all as touristy. We came across a street vendor selling fried bananas, so I grabbed one. Best choice of the day by far. While I had had these in Hoi An, this was so much better. It was bananas and coconut dipped in batter and fried, it was warm, and it did not taste like oil. So good! We continued our walk, only to notice that the few street vendors that are around serve mainly noodles, and somehow managed to find our way back to the hotel.

Hue, or the Imperial City, is the ancient capital of Vietnam with a population of around 600,000. It was the capital of Vietnam for about 45 years; otherwise Hanoi has been the capital. After lunch, we took a walking tour of the Imperial Citadel, which is the only one left in Vietnam. Of all of the buildings, only 5 are remaining. There is a tennis court (because the last king enjoyed sports), along with a beautiful garden and some other buildings. The last king had around 500 concubines and 120 children! Each king had concubines, and after he died those that were still virgins were either allowed to become Buddhist nuns for the rest of their lives or basically live in the cemetery for the rest of their lives. While touring the Imperial Citadel, I also met someone who is from HCMC and is traveling by himself, who just happens to live near the dormitory I'm staying at.

After touring the Imperial Citadel, we went to the second largest Buddhist monastery in Vietnam. There was a tall pagoda here along with the car that a monk drove to HCMC in order to burn himself in response to the Vietnamese War. The monastery was very interesting, but 20 minutes was enough time spent there. We took a boat back to the hotel afterwards, which followed the Perfume River. Once we were at the hotel, Cate and I went and had supper at a restaurant in Hue's backpacker area, where I had steamed rice with cashew chicken. When we came back to the hotel, the power was out, and we asked the security officer to show us the way to the top floor. After about an hour, the entire group met up to go out and celebrate Cristina's birthday. It was a very fun night in Hue, and tomorrow we are off to the  next city!