| Hue |
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| Hue |
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Another nighttrain brought us from Hanoi to Hue, in the middle of Vietnam. We started with a trip on one of these colourful dragon boats over the Perfume River. Even it was low season, the boats kept coming in and going away, very busy. |
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Our first stop was at the Thien Mu pagoda. The pagoda was built on the place were every night a lady came down from heaven. Later a Buddhist temple and monastery were added. |
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| Our next stop is at one of the graves of the kings, the grave of Minh Mang. He had selected the place for his grave shortly after becoming king, and came there often. But the construction of the buildings started much later, and of course he was dead before the grave was finished. But happily he had been a good king and his son could finish the grave for him. A real tranquile spot. |
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The next morning we travel by bike. In a busy city like Hanoi that doesn't seem a good idea, but in the small village of Hue even we can manage the Vietnamese traffic. Just 'go with the flow' and everything goes fine. |
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 Our first stop is at the Citadel and the Forbidden City. A friend of ours who was in Vietnam in 1992 told us there had been a lot restored already: most of the temples and buildings had been destroyed. |
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Now we could admire the gates, facades of buildings and visit the temple with the altars of the emperors. As Hue had been the capital of Vietnam before Hanoi, the emperors used to live here. |
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Our second stop is quite different: the market. After lots of markets on the Silk Road, Istanbul and Marrakech, we had expected it would be very common. But still we keep on wondering at the colours, shapes and smells of everything that is for sale.
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