Vietnam. Hué.

So it was time for my second sleeper train! We had been warned that this was not going to be as nice as the train we had taken in Thailand, so I was wondering what it would be like! We were put into groups of four as it was four to a cabin. We arrived to a much more quiet station in Hanoi that I was expecting. We made our way to the train and climbed up the huge steps onto the train. The carriage was so narrow it was hard to to me and my rucksack along to our cabin. It was like the old fashioned trains with compartments, but these had beds and not seats. The cabins were small but fine and clean. 

Take away and wine helped the evening pass well! I slept so badly as the beds were so short and I couldn't settle, so 14 long hours later we arrived in Hué. We were just there for one full day but I seemed to have fit a lot in!

After an amazing buffet breakfast with panoramic views over the busy city we went on a tour out into the countryside. We set off passing rice paddys constantly on our left and right. They were currently being harvested and all the farmers were wearing the pointy cane hats that you would think only tourists wear these days, but they obviously do a good job at keeping the sun off!

We went to a rice museum (room) which a little 85 year old lady showed us how rice was farmed and milled when it was all done by hand and not mechanised. It was very interesting and she was very entertaining with her singing and funny noises!

We could hear a wedding happening and our guide wanted us to go and find it to have a look. We found it and got invited on, but we all felt to British and didn't want to impose! But it looked good fun. 

We then drove and saw some bunkers. Not massively exciting, but there were both French and American bunkers overlooking the river. The views were great and our guide told us some stories about his family and how the war affected him. 

We then went to have a look at some village industries and saw how insence sticks and conical hats were made. It was a very strange set up, we just turned up at this shops and the workers jumped into action. The insence stick was really interesting, the lady used a plastering tool to roll from a big ball of insence dough onto a thin stick. She was very fast. I didn't buy any as they didn't smell amazing, they are all cinnamon flavoured and they light them everywhere. It is definitely a Vietnam smell, but not one I want to remover just yet! 

The lady next to her was making the conical hats. She could only make two a day, which leads me to believe there is a big factory somewhere churning them out! She was making some with a patterned layer in between two layers of cane, which when held up to the light showed images of Vietnam. 

Our last stop was to visit a colosseum which was used to house fights between tigers and elephants! It was pretty much in someone's back yard. It was tucked away through some narrow roads and lots of houses. It was a little underwhelming! We were all expecting a lot more, and as it was apparently being restored (no signs of this!) we couldn't even go in. We were told that the elephant always won as the tiger would have its claws removed or be drugged or maimed in some way. It was used until the early 1900's. 

After this we headed back to our hotel to start our afternoon tour! We started off visiting a tomb of one of the emperor. This was in a huge mausoleum which he had built for him whilst he was still alive. He had no children so he had it built for himself. It was a huge area with beautiful buildings and lakes full of water lillies. 

There was a grave for the emperor but he doesn't lie there. No one knows exactly when he was buried to prevent grave robbers as he would have been buried with many treasures. The 50 soldiers who took him to his tomb were executed (willingly) to prevent anyone knowing his location. 

Our next stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda. A big pretty pagoda and another temple. Simple. 

It was also the temple of a monk who famously lit himself on fire during the war in a sign of protest. I must remember to look this up. They had the car too which was used to drive him to the spot. 

Next and final stop was the Imperial Citadel. This was where the emperors used to live. It was pretty and had lots of Chinese style buildings. We also saw where the emperor kept their 100's of concubines. 

Very long stuffed day!