Hue

Quick day and a quick post.  Today we spent the day walking around the imperial palace in Hue, saw a beautiful pagoda and took a dragon boat ride back to the hotel.  Very shortly we head to the train station for the overnight train to Hanoi.  The temperature is pretty brutal, 107 degree heat index and our energy levels and those of the rest of the group were pretty low.  Hard to believe the folks that rode 60 miles a day or so ago had to take numerous rest breaks just walking around.  We miss our bikes.

Hue was the home of the last emperors of Vietnam, the Nguyễn (pronounced Win).  The monarchy ended in 1945.  If you remember the name, Hue (pronounced Way), it may be because of the terrible 25 day battle fought here during the Tet offensive in 1968.

The palace was over 1000 acres and beautiful.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site.  One story we kept coming back too was that one of the emperors had over 500 concubines.  Very hard to imagine.

Well, we are off to the train station.  Have a wonderful Wednesday.

First of three layers of gates at the Imperial palace.  This has the
Vietnamese flag flying (which you see everywhere).

The coronation palace

The emperors library

Dragon boat with pagoda in the background.  The river is the
Perfume River

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