Hue to go

The weather here in Vietnam hasn't been of the expected hot and muggy variety; instead, it's been downright chilly, gray and windy! It kind of put a damper on yesterday's pool party, but spirits were lifted at dinner when our party of 44 descended upon a very delicious Vietnamese restaurant.

And somehow, after about a week and a half of non-stop eating, I roused myself early this morning to hit the breakfast buffet before our day of touring Hue, the former capital of Vietnam situated about 2.5 hours away from Hoi An. Our plan was to do some Hue sightseeing in the morning, followed by some leisurely biking around town.

We started by visiting the former emperor's palace - a compound similar to China's Forbidden City. We went through relatively quickly, our guide pointing out things like the number of gates, different buildings and some statues. To be completely frank, it wasn't terribly interesting, but the cool weather and throngs of other tourists definitely didn't help.

Next up was lunch! We had another multi-course Vietnamese meal in a restaurant where everything from the napkins to the chopstick wrappers felt moist. The food was good, but I probably could have skipped the meal.

Our driver took us a few blocks away to visit a pagoda, where statues had beards and mustaches made of actual hair. It was pretty grody.

For some reason, after the pagoda visit, we were taken down the Perfume River by dragon boat. On the boat, a lady tried to sell us some various arts and crafts, but some members of our party decided instead to sleep. It was kind of a pointless journey, but I guess it probably would have been prettier on a warmer day. It probably would have been smellier as well, so maybe the cool weather was a good thing.

Upon returning to shore, we made the decision to ditch the bicycling part of the tour in favor of visiting the fourth emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty's tomb. The tomb was actually another compound with several buildings, like a smaller version of the palace grounds. It was actually quite peaceful, featured a nice moat, and the damp, gray weather lended a nice peaceful quality to the visit.

Some of Cousin Steppynose's friends decided to rent old-timey garb and get dressed like emperors and concubines for a photo. Since there was no photographer on duty, we took their photos - along with a gaggle of French tourists.

After our time at the tomb, we piled back into the van and headed back to Hoi An. It was a pretty long day, and the tour was only okay, but I was happy to see something other than the tailor's shop!