Hué isn’t far from Hoi An so I got a taxi from my hotel in Hoi An back to Da Nang, and then popped on the train for 3 hours. The journey itself is beautiful, as the train goes along the coast, you go through the Hai Van Pass (literally means Ocean Cloud) which is just breathtaking. The cliffs, the blue sea, the sun shining down, as well as the greenery on the coast and islands. Highly recommended train journey!

The train station in Hué is quite well situated, just on the outskirts of the actual city, unlike Hoi An where the train station is in an entirely different city! Standard amount of taxi touts outside the station, so I put on my resting bitch face and walked with purpose straight past them all, over the bridge and into town. It was about a 35 minute walk to my hotel, so very reasonable 😊 Weather was also much cooler than Saigon which was nice! Checked into my hotel and went to a restaurant just off the main backpacker stretch, recommended by a group of Dutch tourists as I walked past. It was called Elegant restaurant, and I dined on Hué speciality foods and a local beer.

Banh beo was the first local food I tried, which are tiny steamed rice cakes (like dumpling cases) topped with dried prawns, spring onion, pork crackling and herbs, each cake served in a tiny china dish, and a bowl of fish sauce to accompany which you pour over each rice cake immediately before eating.

Nem lui was the other dish I ate here, which comprises minced pork mixed with sugar,  garlic, fish sauce and other seasonings, shaped into a sausage around a lemongrass stalk and grilled. It is served with cold vermicelli noodles and some vegetables and herbs, and rice paper circles. You have to put a small amount of vermicelli noodles on the paper, add some herbs or vegetables, then put the pork patty on top and wrap the paper around. Gently remove the lemongrass stalk, and then you can dip the roll in the provided peanut sauce. Delicious, although I prefer the banh beo.

The next day, I spent recuperating as I still had a fever, although did drag myself out in the evening for a walk and for some food. This time I went to Serene cuisine restaurant, and enjoyed more speciality food! I had some beef pho and also banh khoai which is a crispy rice pancake, filled with pork, shrimp, beansprouts and herbs, served with a soybean sauce. Also, they sell the best chocolate mousse I actually have ever had!!

My final full day in Hue dawned, so to make the most of my time there, I went to visit the Imperial Citadel. I walked there so got to walk across the bridge over the river, and went through the stone gates into the old city. It was built over 200 years ago by the Royal Family, in the style of the Forbiden City in Beijing. A moat surrounds multiple layers of buildings, temples and ornate corridors. The complex is vast, although nowadays much of it has fallen into disrepair, and some areas are gone with only occasional rubble remaining. The main area that has gone belonged to the concubines, and through a combination of termites, fire and war, those buildings have gone.

During the Vietnam war, the US deliberately did not attack the area containin the citadel, even though the Viet Cong were based there. However over time, this restriction was lifted. It was quite weird to see highly restored sections next to rubble, with tourist tat being sold from inside some of the most important buildings, and even horses just casually wandering round the complex,  and motorbikes randomly going down corridors. Another difference between the West and SE Asia! It’s completely free to just wander around the complex (after paying the high entry fee… It might be without rules but you still definitely need to pay!)

The long corridors gave way to empty space, with crumbling mouldy temples, dogs running amok, fragments of buildings, and a weird feeling of what once was, imagining the courtiers walking around but now there’s just this empty space.

For lunch, I went to a French restaurant down the road called Les Jardins de la Carambole which was quite fancy, but I fancied treating myself 😊 Had beer, some delicious spring rolls, and some chicken stir fried with chilli and lemongrass. The weather began to deteriorate so I hopped in a taxi back. The rains rolled in which put a dampener on my evening plans… Unfortunately I was booked onto a tour the following day, and the weather showed no signs of improving!