Day 6 Hue
I was last on the white bus this morning after a 7am wake up call to be out by 8.30am. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a wonderful tour but they will get you up in the mornings! I did sleep in my luxurious bedroom last night in the total silence – bliss! After my meal down town last night i bought some rather colourful cotton trousers. They are pink(yes true to form), teal, blue and white in a sort of paisley pattern – very gay and sooo comfortable! I wore them today with a pink top which is a sort of vest type, even though it was raining. It was still about 30° and you get wet one way or the other within minutes! We were led by Lan who turns out to be a lovely chappy with a great sense of humour. We started at the forbidden city or the Imperial City if you listen to some. Here we saw the palace of Supreme Harmony. A huge complex of buildings that have mostly survived the bombings. I loved the details on the buildings, the mosaics and scenes painted or carved on the arches and walls. We witnessed the parade of the guards all dressed in red and yellow. Yellow is the royal colour and only the king could use it for buildings – when the french invaded they painted their buildings yellow to play a one upmanship game. We then went to the Thein Mu Pagoda up some vry steep steps so a couple of us went the windy path route. It’s position by the river was stunning and as you looked out you realused how green and tropical the place is. We came down to the banks of the river and climbed aboard a double coloured dragon headed boat. We bought cold beers – bia hoi is the vietnamese for draft beer and it is very good- which was very very welcome! We sailed down the river and did more shopping! I have neither room in my case or money left and i have about 10 days to go! Any one know where i could get a job when i get back?! I have decided to buy a hand luggage bag as my case very tight now. We disembarked and made our way to the wonderful place we went for lunch which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We had a fig based vegetable pate which we ate in prawn crackers and dipped in a lovely dip: noodle soup with pork: prawns and spring rolls with a dip: a fish stew with fragranced rice and ended with creme caramel, banana and jasmine tea. Brill or what? We staggered out of there to go to make our last visit of the day. I was wearing my new conical hat by this time – very expensive at $1 or 70p! We arrived at Tu Duc’s mausoleum in sunshine. Another wonderful place that the Vietnamnese people are busy renovating and restoring. The steps killed me but nosy me couldn’t give it a miss. The mausoleum is there but no-one really knows where the body is as it a secret – he was buried with jewels etc and they didn’t want it to be raided. I staggered back to the boring white bus and grabbed a bottle of water – oh the small joy of cold water! Now ensconced in my lovely bed i am just about to have a badly needed shower ready to go out to the Mandarin across the road for yet more delicious food – someone has to do it! Bye for now, back tomorrow if i am awake after the 5.30 wake up call. Flight is 8.30 to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city and the airport is about an hour away. I will be sad to leave the Imperial Hotel.
Freejan