The Train to Hué

- Koi Carp at the Imperial Palace.

Our last day in Hanoi was relatively uneventful, we mainly walked around the lake and old town picking up the odd thing that we needed as we went. We did visit Hôa Lò prison museum, which was built by the French in the colonial era.

The exhibits weren't really rich in detail, but for the one pound entry we didn't feel too bad. It was interesting seeing the language being used, which had very 'red' shading. It seems someone has sold the same digital video walkthroughs to all the exhibitions in Vietnam in place of guides or well laid out signage!

In the evening we boarded the train to Hué. We had a cosy 4 berth compartment and quickly got settled in for the night.

- Cosy for the night.

At our next stop as we were drifting off we were told to get down from our bunks as there were other travelers with tickets for them! We showed the conductor our tickets and confusion reigned for a rather long time before it was eventually noticed that our tickets were for 25/11/17 instead of 25/01/18!!!

- What's wrong?

Completely my fault, the fast thinking conductor after some discussion with her supervisor offered us her compartment for a fee! This actually saved us a bit of money since it was less than the price of two new tickets and we didn't get booted off the train. The compartment had room for about one and a half people and we somehow got a bit of sleep as the conductor lounged on a deck chair outside with a nice bonus!

- Double bed?

We eventually arrived in Hué the next morning and after an early check in went for some breakfast and then walked to the Imperial Palace.

- The central palace. Impressive inside, but photos not allowed.

The Imperial Palace is an impressive site and unfortunately was heavily damaged in the Vietnam war by both sides, due to being in the middle of the country and hence the dividing line between both sides.

- The gate house to enter the purple forbidden city.

There has been heavy restoration and there are still some beautiful buildings to be seen. We dandered at a gentle pace for a couple of hours around the huge complex. Again there was a lack of his signage and some obvious questions that had been glossed over (why did the monarchy end in 1945?), but at least there was a helpful digital rendering to make up for this! It was interesting to see some traditional 19th century Vietnamese architecture though.

Today after a lie in to make up for train escapades we are heading to Hoi An, which I have timed horribly as the final of the football is on at 3PM! Our bus is due to arrive at 4:30, so hopefully it goes to extra time again! Uzbekistan (who beat South Korea in the semis) are the team to beat. The locals are excited and there has been partying in the street already! Hopefully they'll win as the party will be incredible!