The traffic is still crazy here but there is far less of it to deal with than in Saigon. A stroll down the back roads and across a bridge over the Perfume River and we arrived at the Citadal (great big walled city). It was far better than I expected as from my research it seemed that most of it was in disrepair. It was a fantastic surprise to wander around the old buildings and see the detail that had been painted, engraved and built into the buildings.
The Citadel – Hue
Temple inside the Citadel – Hue
I do love a good dragon
Inside a temple
An even better surprise was spotting two elephants feeding! Now that made my day.
Elephants always make me smile
An impossible ladder – made of tiny pieces of thin bamboo
A relaxing afternoon was had in an effort to avoid the heat by reading and drinking cool drinks on the balcony of our room. Because it was low season there weren’t many tourists so we have the large dragon boat to ourselves as we took a sunset cruise for an hour up and down the Perfume River. That trip highlighted for me the contrasts of Vietnam as we saw people living in tin shacks, washing their clothes in the river and chatting away on mobile phones.
Life on the Perfume River
Meal of the day was dinner at the Stop and Go cafe. We sampled Nem Lui (grilled kebabs on lemongrass stalks) and Banh Uot (a thin pancake wrapper consisting of rice noodles, with shrimp fried shallots) and it was all fantastic. A bbq pork bun on the way back to the hotel topped off a great day.
Banh Uot
Nem Lui
