Hue

Early Bus again today to Hue. This town has a large Citadel and we took a tour of part of it, poor Hahn was doing his usual tour guide thing, which was excellent but I think we were all a little jaded after the long bus ride up to Hue. The town had once been the Capital of Vietnam (which is funny because most of the towns we have stopped at seem to have been the Capital at some time in history!) It took us all a while to understand what the 'flat' pole was until we realised that we were looking at the 'flagpole' out side the Citadel on a large mound. It was huge and the flag flying from it massive.
Inside the Citadel we went for a wander around some of the building that were still standing after many years of fighting and fed the fish; huge coy carp in a pond that went into a mass frenzy when you tipped a bag of fish food into the lake. Our evening meal here was a 'dress-up do' where we we all put on traditional costumes of the Kings and Queens, the food was ok and we had a group of local musicians playing music. We all got a bit silly though and I'm not sure they saw the funny side, first of all we all cross dressed (not that you could tell as all the gowns and headgear looked pretty similar to us) Also we were only 10 of us in a room that could seat about 200 so it was a little empty with us being waited on by almost as many staff as us, and a 6 piece band!
A second night in Hue and we took an early boat ride up the 'Perfume River' so called as it was once the route by which herbs and flowers we taken to be exported and the scents of these could be smelt all along the river. These days all you can smell is diesel fumes. The most obscure part about this river trip was having to stop twice in the middle of the river on the boat to 'complete formalities and pay taxes' with the local police who are moored on boats in the middle of the river. We stopped at a Buddhist temple to have a look around and it was teaming with tourists, I know I am one but this was heaving with them and it lost it's appeal. Back on our bus (which had come up to meet us) we drove out to another one which is still active just in time to catch the end of the monks chanting, this was much more 'natural' as there was hardly anyone there (tourists!) and the place was very relaxing. Back on the bus to our next stop which was a place where they make and sell incense sticks and we were shown how they are made by rolling a paste onto a thin stick and then left to dry. Outside the stall the coloured sticks had been arranged and stacked into patterns to advertise the stalls, We had a coffee here and then a short ride on to a viewpoint high above the river where we had a couple of group photos taken. Back on the bus again (are you getting the idea there's a lot of bus rides in this trip yet?) we visited a serene kings burial site, Hahn went into tour guide mode again and some of us sloped off to take pictures of the site which was huge and deserted.
Time for lunch and we went to visit an Orphanage which Intrepid supports. The children here come for all sorts of reasons and it is run by Buddhist Nuns. First we had lunch there which was prepared and served by the young people, the food was really good and filling, and was used as a way of giving the young people a skill they can use when they leave the Orphanage. Then we took a tour around it to see and meet with the children and young people who live there. The place was very clean and the children seemed very happy, no where was 'out of bounds' and we we free to wander the place, however it was a heart-string puller. The night before we had been out at Hahn's suggestion to the local supermarket and bought bags and bags of toys, books, pens, coathangers and the little blighter's were desperate to have a rummage in the bags so we had to keep a tight grip on them until we could hand them over to one of the nun's for distribution. After the tour around the site we stopped in a large area where the kids sand a couple of songs for us and I taught them 'Boom Boom, Do you want to be Crazy!' and 'Ony... Ony... Ony... Wah... Wah!' much to there delight. It was hard to leave the kids there and we were all a little somber on the way back. Some of them were just babies but the centre works with them all to get them through the local schools and has even sent some on to university. There is no requirement for them to leave when they are old enough (one man is 35 and has become a helper since being brought up there).
Our evening meal this night was at an Italian Restaurant and the Pizza's were a nice change to the normal menu.