SEA Trip: Hoi An and Hue, Vietnam

CAUTIONS: This post does not contain any practical information. All is unimportant stuff filled with subjective judgment. Do not continue reading if you're currently doing research for your trip. Read this if you miss me ;)

Day 5: Hoi An & Hue

Hoi An and Hue are super nice for transit cities. I didn’t go around Hoi An, but the scenery of rice fields surrounded by mountains really was a great breakfast for my eyes. There are also many rivers and canals filled with traditional boat, and we rode around the mountain which made the view more beautiful.

the scenery along Hoi An to Hue

We arrived at Hue at 1, and I went straight to the Citadel. It was a huge complex of Vietnam Kingdom, consisted of some palaces, many pavilions and a forbidden city. I tried to explore the Imperial Palace but not even finished. It was all charming, and I’m pretty sure its maintenance costs a lot, a fair price for 80.000 D (for local only 27.000 D). You’ll feel like brought back to the era of the kingdom. Too bad, not much information can be gained regarding the palace and the other sites, neither proper direction board telling us the way to go. There’s only one map given in the beginning of the tour, which is really insufficient even to know where your direction is, since you are surrounded by giant walls and blocks of palaces. It made me feel kind-of lost right there, consequently I didn’t explore efficiently and only hit the places I saw. Anyway, near the gate of the inside Citadel (so the Imperial Palace is the Citadel inside Citadel), there are some sugar bit sellers, which only cost 10.000 D for one fresh glass; a good treat after exhausting walk. The bus left earlier, about 4.45. A little warning for those who take the bus in Vietnam, always remember to be on the bus counter 30 minutes before the written time in your ticket (or the changed time, for sometimes they change the time 30 min – 1 hour earlier on the spot where you arrive). It might be late, might be earlier. That’s all for today, let’s see how pretty are actually Hanoi and Ha Long Bay tomorrow.

One of the Complex in Citadel; the Queen Pavilion if I'm not mistaken

Citadel, Hue (I can't remember which part it is, for it's HUGE)

One of the alley at the Forbidden City inside of Citadel, Hue