Hue

Needless to say arriving in Hue was a huge relief. I was even nonplussed by the constant touts from moto drivers for a few days.

We made up for a few days of living on chips and oreos by eating yummy food with some substance. Had a japanse dinner the first night which revived Jono's appreciation for chicken.The previous few days he (I'm sure) was served up some old jaundiced rooster that had been poached then left to dry out for a few days. We had breakfast a On Thu Wheels and one of the kids who was watching cartoons came over and tried to clear the table for us. Unfortuantely he couldn't quite balance the plates and ended up dropping one on the floor. That didn't worry him much though as his mother was cleaning it up he came over to the table again. He picked up our little dish of sugar and stuck his finger in to eat some. Jono tried to stop him and must have actually got the word for "no" spot on as he stopped and looked up. As if to say 'Well if I can't use my finger...' he looks down at the bowl and licks the sugar from the bowl. At this point the stern faces we were trying to keep cracked and we burst out laughing. He was a little confused but not that bothered.

The next day we wandered around the citadel and the citadel within a citadel and spent 30 mins trying to find the citadel within a citadel within a citadel before realising we had passed it on our way to trying to find it. It was quite pleasant in the imperial enclosure and Jono climbed up one of the tanks on display in front of one of the museums. A fairly laid back day and we again stuffed our faces at the Indian resturant in town.

Our plan for the third day was to cycle to the temple which has the car that the monk that burnt himself in protest to the Vietnam War is on display and then to cycle to the closet of the royal tombs. Tim and Steph had said it was the best one so we thought one would be enough.

The trip to the Thien Mu Pagado was strainght foward and we wandered about the temple for a bit before heading of the tombs.

The map in the lonely planet guide is useless and maybe we are a bit useless at following maps. We ended up cycling to the second furthest tomb Khai Dinh. We thought we were at Thieu Tri but had overshot and cycled 10km out of town. We looked at the tomb which was pretty impressive, very ornate and extravagant. The 36 steps that lead up to it were impressive but it is apparently a display of the decline of vietnamese culture, as it is unlike the other tombs and has much more European influence.

So we headed back towards town in search of Tu Duc. On the way we meet a group of school girls who came over while we were studying the map. They asked Jono to sing a song but he refused suggesting they should ask me. After a pretty tone deaf rendition of Row Row Row your boat we asked for a song in return. 5 girls say back 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine....".It was really lovely, very sweet and a little funny. So we were on our way again and again we overshot and had to cycle 3km back out of town up a fairly hilly section. We did eventually get to Tu Duc Tomb and it does have a lovely garden.

We splashed out on the degustation dinner at Y Thao garden which was an experience. We have a photo of the pineapple peacock our spring rolls came on. We also splurged on a cyclo ride home as the legs started to give in. I did feel a little sorry for the guy having to cycle two people up the hill on the bridge but he ripped us of at the end so I should have saved my pity for someone more derserving!