Day 8 - Hue, Vietnam

Today we started our tour of central Vietnam with the city of Hue, which used to be Vietnam's capital. In the morning we took a ride in a small boat down the Perfume River. The boats on this river double as homes for the families that operate them. Our boat operator sends the kids to school in the morning and then makes a living giving boat rides during the day.

Here's where we got pulled over by the Vietnamese 5-0. Luckily, our boat operator had all necessary paperwork.

Our first stop on the river was the Thien Mu Pagoda. It was founded by a lord of the Nguyen family in 1601 (the family that would later be a powerful dynasty in Vietnam).

This pagoda is home to the car that drove monk Thich Quang Duc to Saigon in June of 1963, where he torched himself in protest against the Diem regime. For those that may not be familiar with this event, he is on the cover of a Rage Against The Machine album (fun fact: Rage Against The Machine was one of Kim's favorite bands when I met her):

After this we visited the Hue Citadel built by the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty in the early 1800s. The complex is enormous, taking up most of Hue and housing The Imperial and Forbidden Cities.

Much of the city was damaged or destroyed by the Japanese in 1947 and by the Americans during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Later we visited the tombs of two kings of the Nguyen Dynasty (kings number 4 and 12). The kings spent lots of taxpayer money so they could have grand tombs.

Notes:

Our guide confirmed that tuk-tuks were indeed banned by the Vietnamese government as of about 10 years ago for being too dangerous.

The protective masks that many people wear in the cities of Vietnam have become a bit of a fashion accessory these days with many styles to choose from!