I got to Hue by taking a private bus from Dong Ha. Mr. Binh, sufficiently happy with the tip I gave him, decided to drive me there and try and help me get a good bus. Unfortunately, as it was coming up to the Tet holiday, not even a Vietnamese person could get the standard rate. I ended up paying an extra 20 000 VND and jumped on the bus, arriving in Hue about 1.5 hours later.

Once in Hue, I got dropped at the side of the road, as there is some legal reason why private buses cannot drop passengers at bus stations. Some bloke from the other side of the road came over and he and his friend talked to me until we agreed that he would take me the 5 Km to the main street for 50 000 VND. Once there, he still tried to extract more money from me, but even with his limited English, we were able to establish that we had agreed on 50 000 VND. I sat down and ate my left-over breakfast and a cyclo driver confirmed that this was the ‘local’ price.

I followed the cyclo’s instructions to a street that he had recommended as having cheap hotels. There I found what I think is the best hotel I have ever stayed in. It was cheap ($7 per day), clean, light, airy and modern, with a balcony that was set back from the road and a friendly owner. I stayed there for 3 nights, eventually cancelling my planned trip to Da Nang, as the hotel was so nice.

I spent the next two days walking around the Imperial City, both inside and outside the main citadel. Day 1 was incredibly hot and was the first properly hot day that I had experienced. I wore my trousers, as I had done in Dong Ha and Dong Hoi, but when I got back I was drenched. I had a good day exploring the biggest part of the citadel, the place where people still live and work and got to speak to some of the locals, having tea in a secluded cafe during the hottest part of the day.

Day 2 was spent exploring the main part of the Imperial City, which I had to pay to get into. I think I experienced the scam documented in the Being Ripped-Off in Vietnam post, but wasn’t sure, so spent most of the day thinking about it. The Imperial City was good and I managed to escape for 20 minutes to get lunch before going back in to see the bits that I hadn’t seen.

In the evening I went in search of something to eat and found myself in a restaurant that looked popular. I didn’t understand any of what the menu said, so picked the top thing on the list as the picture looked good. What turned up was a plate of squid (which I turned away, as it was too much) and a bowl of meat, with a kind of tomato sauce and onions. I tried the meat and it seemed like fish, but had bones that I would associate with a mammal, so I ate it, having no idea what it was. When I got back to the hotel, the guests and the owner were eating and drinking so I asked one of them what it was. It turned out to be frog, which made sense, as I remembered eating legs which were pretty muscley and trying to eat around little bits that looked like paws. I wasn’t that bothered by it and found out that it was far preferable to toad, which is actually poisonous!

Early the next day I got up to go to the train station and found once I was there that I had left my phone in the hotel reception. I got on another motorbike, eventually paying for 3 motorbike rides from the hotel to the train station to the hotel to the train station, eventually getting back to the train station in time for my train.