Continued from Part 1 and Part 2. Unfortunately, some photos of mine during the last 2 days were unavailable due to the fact that somehow, those files were corrupted and there were no back up. A waste, really.
We finally reached Hue after a long, long journey. My guide, Chien, brought me to the hotel where I'll be staying for the night and left me there on my own. This is one part of the tour that I don't really like. I knew little to nothing about Hue and I was under the impression that he would be bringing me around his hometown. I didn't realize the tour will only begin the next day.
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| The room at Huyen Trang 2 Hotel |
The room I was given was beautiful and big. In fact, too big for one person. This is another aspect that I don't like, that he didn't customize the trip accordingly. I freshened up myself before heading out to explore the city. Equipped with a map I obtained at the lobby, I went for a walk around the city. The famous Perfume River is part of the attraction, along with its UNESCO Heritage Site inscribed Complex of Hue Monuments. I was just having a glimpse of the city before slowing heading back to hotel for a good night rest.
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| Delicious breakfast, bun bo Hue |
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| Into the Imperial City of Hue |
The next morning, Chien came to the hotel to pick me up and we left to have breakfast. After that, we began a brief tour of Hue. The first stop was the Imperial City of Hue. It is a walled fortress and palace of the former capital of Vietnam. Much like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the ruling emperor of Vietnam resided within the Imperial City, with a moat separating the royals from the commoners. It would have been a magnificent sight had it not been heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, leaving most of the palaces and structures in the Imperial City in total destruction.
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| Look at the vastness of the Forbidden City |
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| War had left many buildings damaged |
I spent about an hour exploring the ruins of the Imperial City before heading to the next destination, Thien Mu Pagoda. Chien told me of a local legend of how the name Perfume River came by. According to him, the people of the North came down to the city and built the temple. The scent of the incenses being lit in the pagoda flowed through the river, giving off a fragrant smell. Thus, the name Perfume River. Whether this is for real or not is up for you to decide.
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| Thien Mu Pagoda |
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| The famous Perfume River |
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| The gods |
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| The garden in the temple |
It was about 10 something by the time I finished exploring Thien Mu Pagoda and it was time for us to go to the Danang International Airport in time for my flight back KL. Before leaving the city, we made another stop at the Cao Dai Temple. It was a colourful temple where elements of five religions all merged beautifully together.
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| Cao Dai Temple |
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| The colourful praying ground |
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| Look at the many familiar religious figures |
The journey back was the same as the one we took to reach Hue. We made a stop at Lang Co Island for lunch and continued our journey. Only one difference was that instead of taking the twisty road uphill of Hai Van Pass, we took the Hai Van Pass tunnel. The motorbike was placed on a lorry while the passengers were seated in a bus to go through the tunnel. It was a long and dark ride, about 5 to 10 minutes.
By around 2.45 pm, we reached the airport, just in time for my flight, marking the end of my Vietnam trip.
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| My guide, Chien |
*THE END*
Nice post.Travel through it was really comfortable and more interesting.Happy to see the tour part 3.
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