Sometimes the weather gets the better of you. And it’s okay when that happens. Do the best that you can, but it’s no failure if rather than sucking it up, you want to curl up in the hotel room.
After the highs of Hoi An we headed a little way up north to another central Vietnamese city – Hue. As soon as we were over Hai Van Pass, there was rain. And we didn’t see the last of that rain until we were headed back south a few days later.
I know what you’re thinking – you’re from London, you should be used to the rain! Well, I am. Sort of. Living in Bahrain has made me soft! And the rain’s the main reason why 99% of the photos from Hue are from the inside of the Imperial City…
With our waterproof macs on we headed out into the rainy Hue in search of finding our bearings in relation to the hotel and what we wanted to see. Hue is surprisingly easy to walk around. Like any other Vietnamese city, you’ve got to be confidant while crossing the road and just go for it – the scooter and bikes will go around you. Cars and other four-wheeled vehicles will not.
The main place people visit in Hue is the Imperial City, along with a lot of pagodas and tombs dotted around the city. The Imperial City is a walled fortress and palace, which was the former capital of Vietnam. It is beautiful. Even with the terrible weather.
Hue was destroyed on multiple occasions during multiple wars. Over the years there’s been a lot of effort into rebuilding the historical Imperial City, which is evident.
There was a plan to hit some pagodas the same day as the Imperial City. But the weather got the better of us. Cold, wet, tired we found solace in an Indian restaurant. Turns out us Indians get everywhere. (Fun fact – we hit 3 Indian restaurants during our whole time in Vietnam. Because there’s only so much Vietnamese food you can have. Ganesh in Hue being the best of all three.)
Guess when it decided to stop raining in Hue? Yep, the very day we were leaving. Well, stopped while we waited for a train to take us to Da Nang, but that’s a whole other blog post.
Sorry the rain was such a downer! At least the places you did manage to see were beautiful and really interesting!
For sure.
Beautiful pictures! Love all of this!
Thanks Marie!
Lush pics, rain helps, I think, no? So glad to hear that there are some walkable places in Vietnam. and I can’t believe you all got rain!!! The rest of SE Asia is in a serious drought!
Rain helps a little, but would have loved some blue skies or a touch of sun. Things looked bit drab 🙁
Drought? For real? Eep!
This happened to us at numerous places on our around the world trip… actually the first 4 destinations! Glad you still went out and explored! Beautiful pictures!
Hope you didn’t let it dampen your spirits! Where abouts did you go?
And thank you 🙂
Rainy weather sucks to walk around in but at least you were prepared. And the gloominess adds a nice mood to the old buildings. My favorite is the one shot through the half-open door.
Thanks Lisa 🙂 Yeah, a bit of atmosphere is great. Though I did really want some blue skies in the photos. Maybe there will be a next time. Maybe. Probably not. Ha!
after seeing those I even more look forward to visiting Middle Vietnam…
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.