We flew from Hanoi to Hue to begin our time in Central Vietnam. Hue is the historic imperial city that was the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty. This dynasty began its rule over Vietnam in 1802. The first Nguyen emperors ruled by birthright, but when the French seized control of Indochina in the 1880s, the emperors were appointed by the French colonisers. Some displeased the French and were soon executed and replaced with ‘puppet’ emperors who were little more than figureheads. The dynasty ended in 1945. More recently, Hue was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War.
Our new guide, Trieu, met us at the airport. He works as a freelance guide, and I would be happy to pass on his contact details to anyone reading this. Trieu was with us throughout our time in Central Vietnam and we loved his good nature, his sense of humour and his excellent local knowledge and storytelling ability.
We stayed in the beautiful La Residence Hotel on the Perfume River. We found a map and walked along the road that ran by the river for several blocks, looking for a shopping precinct. Eventually the drizzle started and we changed direction and headed back to the hotel. A little after we got back it was raining quite heavily.
On The Road With Garry 