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Day 5:
Arriving in Hue (the former imperial capital of Vietnam) we have 2 full days to enjoy the many sights and slower pace of this tranquil city. We drop our stuff off in the hotel and head off into town to grab some lunch. We go to one of Tuans recomendations and the girls sample one of Hues traditional specialties: Banh Khoai, a delicious stuffed pancakes.
At 2pm we all head off to visit the Imperial Citadel, by which time for the first time so far it starts to rain, and heavily! Later we find out the rain is out to get me as i fall down some of the steps in the citadel. Luckily nothing was broken just a bit of bleeding on my toe. The Citadel was severly damaged in the War and is currently being rebuilt.
When we got back to hotel the main objective was to dry off. The rain had literally soaked through us all and it was definately not confortable. Erin went for a run so I had a chance to sit in the bath and soak my poorly foot. Afterwards we all headed off for dinner, a Royal Banquet of all things (slightly reminded me of my work leaving dinner!!). We all dressed up in traditional costume, Ralph and Erin were picked as Emperor and Emperess, I was a princess and poor old Martin was a eunuck!!! This was so much fun and the food was very impressive, to see what they can do with a simple carrot is mind boggling!
Day 6:
Today we are relieved to see that it is not raining (not yet anyway) and so jump at the chance to do the motor bike tour. We all have our own bike and driver and as we leave we know Martin is hoping he doesnt fall off as his Insurance policy doensnt cover this one! We drive through the countryside, which just opens your eyes so much more than anything else to how these people live. Along the way we stop off at a Buddhist Monastary and witness the monks praying. There are a couple of nuns here from one of the neighbouring nuneries, they are the ones wearing brown. It is unbelievable what they give up in order to follow their religion, it is only later on in our trip that we find out how far they will go. We head off for some lunch now at one of the nuneries. This meal is solely vegetarian and so Fiona is over the moon. The rain however has started to fall and so we are a little damp by the time we arrive. The food i must say is the best i have tasted so far. I absolutely love the Comscot juice we were given and fried spring rolls are soon becoming my favourite dish. After a 20 minute rest of the mats provided we get back on the bikes and head off to visit one of the Nguyen emperors' tombs. Unfortunately it was severely damaged in the Vietnam War and parts of the temple were falling down, so we were unable to see all that we wanted to but by this point the rain had started again so we were happy not to have to walk around too much.
We then rode down to the river where we were happy to see shelter in the form of a dragonboat and a short cruise along the Perfume River. Hue, known as the centre of Buddhism and education in Vietnam, has a wealth of pagodas and monasteries to discover. The cruise took us to one of these Pagodas, the Thiem Mu Pagoda whcih was very impressive.
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