Travelling through Vietnam - Hué

I go so behind with my blog posting that this blog post is going back to January when I travelled from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh by bus with Alex and Chloe. The last place I wrote about was Ninh Binh where we visited Tam Coc. After a full day of sightseeing, we took what ended up being our only night bus of the trip - 12 and a half hours from Ninh Binh to Hué. 

Alex and Chloe at the beginning of our 12.5 hour journey

Night buses are certainly not the most comfortable way to travel and I don't think any of us slept very well that night. The drivers do not seem to be very considerate of their passengers as they zoom along, overtaking other traffic, and beep their horn constantly. There were various other noises in the night and being fully clothed with the provided blanket to cover you, it was not very comfortable! We arrived early the next morning and, after deciding the taxi drivers would just try to rip us off, we decided to walk to our hostel - 2.5km away from where we'd been dropped off. This was when it seemed clear which bag was best to take on such a trip. Alex had a backpack whilst Chloe and I were wheeling along suitcases. I think Alex probably had the better option! Chloe's suitcase particularly struggled as it doesn't have a hard back in order to be lighter. However, this means that it was dragging along the road!

We made it to our hostel and, as it was so early in the morning, we were allowed to go into one of our two rooms which was still not cleaned from the previous guests. We had a bit of a rest, showered and went out. We wanted to book ourselves onto our next bus to Hoi An ASAP as it was during the Tet festival and therefore a busy time to travel. Unfortunately we were not able to get the bus we wanted and ended up having to agree to leave the next morning. We had some Vietnamese Pho for lunch and set off to see the Imperial Citadel, the main site in Hué.

Anyone who knows me will know that I don't do well without 8 hours minimum of sleep so this day was a struggle for me! It's a shame because I have heard good things about Hué from other people but, due to my tiredness, it was my least favourite place in Vietnam. 

On the way to the citadel, we bought Vietnamese conical hats for 2$ each. We had been planning to do this at some point during our time in Vietnam so decided it was the right time to do it. Alex left his hat in Hué but Chloe and I clung onto ours until we finally said goodbye to them in Nha Trang! Not the easiest things to fit in a suitcase... We accidentally walked the wrong way to get to the citadel and ended up walking around the whole outside as it only had one entrance.

Entrance to the Imperial Citadel

Vietnamese flag flying

Chloe and Alex at one of the gates we couldn't go through!

Alex and I with our conical hats

Walking next to the moat

Another gate we couldn't go through

We finally reached the entrance and went inside. The Imperial Citadel suffered a lot of damage over the years so a lot of what you can see is ruins. There was one hall that was well preserved with information about the Imperial Citadel but the rest was more down to imagination. 

Finally inside the Imperial Citadel

Courtyard

Imperial Citadel

Passageways

It would have looked very grand 

I liked the gateways

Temple

I really wish I could write more about the citadel but I was dragging myself around in a daze, too tired to take a lot in. I was getting increasingly grumpy to the point that we decided we should go back to the hostel so that I could sleep! I am so sorry to Chloe and Alex for how I was that day, really can't have been fun to be around. If you need your sleep like me, bear this in mind if you opt for travel by sleeper bus.

I had a rest at the hostel and we went out for some food and had a few drinks at the hostel before bed. Unfortunately that was all we had time for in Hué as we were off to Hoi An the next day. It was a shame that we couldn't stay longer and get to know the place a bit more, but we had to make sure we kept moving to get to Ho Chi Minh in time for our flights on 5th February.