Hue

Today we took a 5 hour bus ride from Hoi An to Hue. We passed over some beautiful beaches surrounded by lush mountains. It would have made for incredible pictures - but again, we had more rain! It's so sad :(

Upon arrival, we hired cyclos (front = chariot, back = bicycle) for a trip to the Imperial City. The place was severely damaged during the Tet offensive in the Vietnam war, but it is being rebuilt trying to restore some of the former splendor of the compound that housed several Vietnamese emperors.

That evening, we went to a Royal Dinner, where we dressed up like Vietnamese royalty and tried all sorts of local cuisine - some delicious, some more "adventuresome". One of the drinks was a rice "wine" (in quotes, because it seemed a lot closer to tequila in both taste and smell). We also had a performance from a musical group playing traditional music.

The following morning, we hired motorbikes to explore some of the countryside around Hue. It was one of our favorite activities to get out of the city, seeing farmers working their land (some using water buffalos to pull their plows through the rice fields). At a market we saw all sorts of fresh produce, meat, and even baby chicks/ducks (being packaged in plastic bags to raise until they were ready to be someone's dinner). We also tried a snack similar to peanut brittle (rice paper sandwiching peanuts and a sugar/brittle cohesive) that was really good.

That night we packed our bags in preparation for a 13-hour night train. Even though we were traveling in the "first class" cars, they still had a lot to be desired and were glad to finally arrive in Hanoi the following morning.