Hue: the best hotels were just for one night

It seems as of all the really great hotels we stayed in were the ones we only had for one night.

The 7th floor of our hotel in Hue had a open air but covered pool for splashing around, nice after a hot day out. The breakfast buffet included a great selection and kept serving until at least 10am.

Our hotel room in Hue had a giant room with a separate sitting area in front of the TV. The bathroom was spacious and there was a large dressing area off of it.

The room had a small balcony. It was too tiny to really sit out and enjoy,  but since we were on the 10th floor the views were worth standing.

Eating and drinking in Hue

There was a cool map of Hue painted on the wall of a coffee shop I visited. The coffee shop also had the fastest Internet I have ever encountered.

Group dinner out.

Shots. That look like liquid Ectoplasm

I don't even remember what I got, but it was pretty good.

After dinner jenga to play as we had more drinks.

If this is what my photos of pretty lights on the street look like, perhaps I didn't need to head to another bar.

A couple of us were looking for lunch before we left town. We ended up in a very local restaurant. The menu is below. We weren't entirely sure what we were ordering, but got a few things to share. This BBQ meat was so good I neglected to take photos of the rest.

Hue: Thien Mu Pagoda

On a hill overlooking  the Perfume River in Hue is the Thien Mu Pagoda.

Thien Mu Pagoda is a seven storied pagoda.

"The name of the pagoda derives from a special legend. Long time ago, an old woman appeared on the hill where the pagoda stands today, telling local people that a Lord would come and build a Buddhist pagoda for the country's prosperity. Lord Nguyen Hoang therefore ordered the construction of the pagoda the "Heaven Fairy Lady" or Thiên Mụ in Vietnamese (also called Linh Mụ)." (From 

http://www.vietnam-beauty.com/cities/hue/29-hue/75-thien-mu-pagoda-heaven-fairy-lady-pagoda.html)

The views from the top of the hill of the river were quite nice.

Behind the pagoda is a temple.

The pagoda itself is one of the highest in Vietnam.

Flowers behind the temple.

Secret side passage so we could avoid stairs going down. But it also avoids the front approach to the pagoda and temple, so I'd advise taking the stairs.

Hue: Tomb of Emperor Thieu Tri

This was our last stop of the afternoon in Hue. Actually the tomb is just outside of town.

Emperor Thieu Tri was only on the throne for seven years (1841-1847) and never wanted to bother anyone with his death, so the tomb was constructed by his son in 1848.

Statues leading up to the tomb itself:

Tree with what looks like some sort of offerings.

Lotus ponds.

This is the actual tomb.

But I found the lotus pond to be prettier.

On the other side there is a temple with the funerary tablets for the Emperor and his wife.

Gross overnight train from Hanoi to Hue

After we were dragged away from the lovely Halong Bay, we had a few hours for last minute running around Hanoi, then headed to the train station for an overnight train south to Hue.

This train had cabins of four, with very narrow bunk beds on each wall. There was no option to fold them into seats, which was fine for us who all knew each other and were happy to share the space, but must get awkward when you have strangers together and have to stay crammed on your bunk.

There wasn't a ton of space to move around, getting up and down could be tricky.

My minion came along for the ride. While we were in Halong Bay he remained in Hanoi guarding the bags we left behind. He looks happy to be on a train.

In the photo above you can see the mustard colored pillow and blanket that were on the bed when we got there. I've never been so glad to have a sleep sack in my life. We pretty much all shoved the stuff they gave us under the bottom bunk. I used the pillow, but with a towel and my sleep sack over it. Partway through the night I got cold since there was no way to stop the AC from blasting, and pulled one of the blankets over me, but touched it as little as possible.

When the morning came, a woman came in to deal with our linens. She was extremely unhappy with us when she saw they were all mostly shoved under the beds. She took the blankets, folded it up and placed them at the head of each bed with a pillow on top. Who knows when the last time those were washed, ew.

The train arrived (late, as we suspected might happen) into Hue, though at first glance we weren't so sure we had arrived, as there didn't appear to be a station. The train seemed to have just stopped randomly. As we exited and began following all the other people we found pavement and eventually a station. 

   

With that, we left behind the north and entered South Vietnam.