Hue

Finally travelling on my own I headed off to Hue by plane from Saigon.  I stayed at La Paix, a very nice Airbnb overlooking the Perfume River.  Beautiful peaceful place where breakfast on the terrace was a highlight.  The breakfast menu was a mixture of western and Vietnamese and the staff were very worried that I wasn’t eating enough.  The one day city tour with lots of tombs, trip on a dragon boat to a pagoda, Royal Palace, Conical Hat Village (which has now turned into the Incense village as they no longer make conical hats) and lunch.  The Royal Palace is situated within the Citadel which is the walled part of old Hue. Almost all the buildings are reconstructions as the Palace was completely destroyed during the Vietnam War but due to the weather conditions is looks way older The tombs escaped the fighting so are the original buildings and definitely lived up to their description. These were built by various kings as Hue was the seat of the kingdom of Vietnam up until 1945 when Ho Chi Minh deposed the last king. It was so hot there that I ended up with heat stroke. 

Dinner at Madame Thu was a disappointment as the set menu seemed to be just different types of spring rolls which didn’t taste of very much.  The staff also thought I didn’t eat enough so took my drinks off the bill.

I decided to look for restaurants where there weren’t so many tourists and went for one which was full of Vietnamese shouting Mot Hai Ba Yo (1,2,3 Cheers!) and thumping house and techno.  The food was pretty good and finally offered up a bit more spice.  The cuisine of central Vietnam is known for being very spicy so I was a bit disappointed that what I was given was pretty bland.  The waitress tried to stop me from ordering some dishes as she claimed they would be too spicy for me.  I don’t like a lot of chilli but the steamed clams in lemongrass and bok choi fried in garlic were very tasty and well within my comfort zone.