Hue - The Imperial City

No alarm this morning.. hoorah! Breakfast at the Indochine Palace was excellent. So much choice, although I am now limiting myself to only 1 donut to finish off. 😏
(It's Jayne who is the donut addict btw)

It was very warm and sunny today, the first real sunshine to date. A short taxi ride to the Mandarin Cafe where you pick up a map detailing a self guided walk route around Hue. We strolled over the river and on to the Hue Citadel and The Imperial City. We had to avoid/ignore all the hawkers and rickshaw drivers on route, offering us rides, waters, pineapple... the list is endless.

The Imperial City is huge and was established by Emporer Gina Long in 1805. Signage is not too good in the city and if you don't know where you are going, you have no chance. But as anyone who has ever travelled with me will tell you, I do my research (she likes to blow her own trumpet too - ed.) and I had a walking tour of the Imperial Ciy and Citadel which explained where the 8 key places to see were located. So after many gates, temples, urns and 'holy' places...

... it was time for a beer, so we headed back to our start point at the Mandarin Cafe. We had to cross the main bridge over the Perfumed River which has a footpath. Thank goodness, as it was a very busy road. However, the motorbikes and scooters also seem to think it is too busy so they also ride down the footpath too.

So we kept ourselves tucked in to the edge of the bridge and did make it back to the cafe for a well earned beer and some fresh Vietnamese rolls. Mr Cu, the owner, is a keen photographer and likes to show you his photographs, which of course, you can purchase. By this time we had walked about 6 miles and were ready for a rest. So we returned to the hotel - by taxi - the safer option, we felt.

The hotel is next to a supermarket. So I thought it would be a good  idea to go and see if we could get a bottle of wine to drink before going out to dinner. I felt a bit uncomfortable as a security guard seemed to be following us around the store. We found an Aussie Shiraz for a fiver with a screw top. Perfect - what could possibly go wrong? You can't go wrong with an Aussie Shiraz....
well, it seems you can. We got back to the room, opened the bottle and poured 2 glasses. It smelt awful, it tasted rank. Then we realised it was a 'vintage 2006'. I have never been so disappointed in my life. If it was from Waitrose, I would have taken it back! So we jumped in a taxi and headed for a bar in the back packers district - G&T please!

After our drinks, we wandered up 'Walking Street' to The Ancient Town Restaurant. Located on the river side, under the trees. I then realised that in our rush to get out for a drink, we had forgotten to protect ourselves with mosquito repellant. We ordered the set meal for 2. The food was excellent ; prawn pancakes, mussels with mushroom stir fry eaten with a tapioca and wild rice crisp, grilled prawns with lime and garlic salt, steamed veg with garlic, fish stew, steamed rice, a platter of fruit, and a ginger and tapioca dessert soup. We were not too keen on the tapioca soup, but everything else was wonderful. All that food, plus 4 beers - total bill : £16.

So remember the description of the drive to/from Halong Bay? Well, I contacted our agent that I used to book our hotels and transfers to ensure that we had a more comfortable car for our drive over the Hai Van pass tomorrow to Hoi An. He was very concerned about the car we had and asked for further details. So I explained it was a Ford Minbus for 16 people, with no suspension, no seat belts and not very comfortable for a 4 hour drive each way. He phoned me this afternoon, full of apologies. We should have had a comfortable 7 seater vehicle. The company he used should not have sent us in a minibus. It was their mistake but he has taken full responsibility. He was very pleased that I had given feedback as it helps them to improve. So as a thank you, he has arranged a dinner for us in Hoi An tomorrow evening.