We arrived in Hue by private taxi at around 6pm and were dropped off at the entrance to the pedestrian street our hotel was on. The hotel was called.... It was clean, the staff were helpful and breakfast was included. Also unlimited free tea and Vietnamese coffee! Very nice! The weather was terrible, rainy and grey and had been all day, but we were pleased that 2 of the restaurants from lonely planet and two other highly recommended restaurants were on our street. Because of this we never ventured far for food! It turns out that Hue really does have some amazing food, with lots of things very different to the rest of Vietnam.
Our last full day was spent on a boat and bus tour of Hue including all the famous tombs and pagodas. Building large tombs was a right of the emperors of Vietnam I the past and there was great variety in styles from the earlier ones to the latter ones. Our tour guides knowledge at times was questionable, but he was nice and chatty and for $8 a person, we weren't to worried.
We arrives at 6pm put our bags in the hotel and showered. We ventured to the end of the road for an Indian called Ganesh Indian. The smell as we walked past was irresistible.. So we gave in and had some delicious curries with all the trimmings. I had the black Bean makhani and it was delicious. We were comparing it to some of the food we had eaten from India and it was very tasty and we wouldn't hesitate to go back.
The next morning we got up and had our breakfast, an Op La Banh Mi.(Fried egg sandwich) then headed out for a walk to the old Citadel. It was a short walk from the hotel and there are lots of ancient buildings and artefacts in the grounds. The grounds were huge and it took us over 2 hours walking around and reading about the different buildings. This was interesting bur challenging, there were no maps, and very little information in English, so we were trying to piece things together. This might be an activity worth spending on a guide. But after our extravagant day the day before we settled for doing the homework ourselves! We bought a combined ticked that also included 3 other places in Hue, the tomb sites of the emperors which are a recommended visit. It saved us money, costing 360,000 per person for all 4 sites
The next morning we got up and had our breakfast, an Op La Banh Mi.(Fried egg sandwich) then headed out for a walk to the old Citadel. It was a short walk from the hotel and there are lots of ancient buildings and artefacts in the grounds. The grounds were huge and it took us over 2 hours walking around and reading about the different buildings. This was interesting bur challenging, there were no maps, and very little information in English, so we were trying to piece things together. This might be an activity worth spending on a guide. But after our extravagant day the day before we settled for doing the homework ourselves! We bought a combined ticked that also included 3 other places in Hue, the tomb sites of the emperors which are a recommended visit. It saved us money, costing 360,000 per person for all 4 sites
(Citadel - Minh Mang Tomb - Khai Dinh Tomb - Tu Duc)
After finishing at the Citadel we went to the restaurant recommended by our hotel, which was also highly rated on tripadvisor; Hanh Restaurant for Vietnamese food, we went and got a set menu of all the local delicacies. After this we meandered round the streets to a cafe/gift shop called 'healing the wounded heart' whose profits help for expensive heart operations for children from poor families. That night still full from our large lunch we popped over the road to Family Home Restaurant which was also another great place for local food, we had rice and veg soup and spring rolls.
After finishing at the Citadel we went to the restaurant recommended by our hotel, which was also highly rated on tripadvisor; Hanh Restaurant for Vietnamese food, we went and got a set menu of all the local delicacies. After this we meandered round the streets to a cafe/gift shop called 'healing the wounded heart' whose profits help for expensive heart operations for children from poor families. That night still full from our large lunch we popped over the road to Family Home Restaurant which was also another great place for local food, we had rice and veg soup and spring rolls.
Our last full day was spent on a boat and bus tour of Hue including all the famous tombs and pagodas. Building large tombs was a right of the emperors of Vietnam I the past and there was great variety in styles from the earlier ones to the latter ones. Our tour guides knowledge at times was questionable, but he was nice and chatty and for $8 a person, we weren't to worried.
For our final night we headed to..... Where we had another set menu of delicious local foods and even treated ourselves to some local steamed banana cake afterwards!
The next morning we departed on a scooter on a ride over Ha Van Pass to Hoi An. This is available all over Hue, as it was the route ridden by Top Gear in the Vietnam special.
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