The Citadel – Huế, Central Vietnam

April 16 Day 3 


I wanna slap myself in the head. I woke up late, almost missed the free breakfast too. It was my second and last day in Hue and I had reserved the entire morning for the Citadel. As it were, I got to the heritage site at around 10am. The bus bound for Hoi An was picking me up at 12:10nn. Darn! Well, I couldn’t really blame myself can I? I was tired from the train ride plus that tomb raiding race that would give Lara Croft a run for her money haha. Anyway, I tried to see as much as I could in a span of 2 hours. It was tiring and I wish I had more time to stop and just soak it all in. But I didn’t have the luxury of time and ended up not covering the right side of the walled city. Just got lucky I had turned to the more scenic side unknowingly. I had fun going into arches after arches and discovering gardens, temples, and palaces behind them.






During my visit, there was also a group of veterans visiting the ruins. I got two of them in the following photos. Sorry it was taken stealthily, I was just really touched then. I mean, I’m pretty sure they were transported back during the war, imagining bullets ricocheting through the wall and fighting alongside their comrades.










I really had fun going around. I felt like the girl in that book Secret Garden. I wanted to just sit and ponder upon the beauty of my surrounding, the architecture, the history, how life was back then. Ahh, but I didn’t had the luxury of time. In fact, I was almost limping trying to hurry along when it was almost midday. The    vastness of the area just dawned on me then haha. Given another opportunity, I’d love to spend another day there but I think it was my first and last time in Hue. But who knew?!
















At exactly 12 o’clock I was at one of the exits. I booked the bus bound for Hoi An at the hotel the previous day for $5 and I had 10 minutes to get back or else, I’d miss it. One of the moto drivers approached me and as I had expected, tried to charge me 100.000 VND. But by now I knew better, I put my foot down and insisted on 50.000VND saying I only paid xx amount to the taxi driver. They said something about how we were already at the other side of the gate but I had no time to argue. 50.000 VND is still too much anyway so I turned around and started looking for a taxi. They called me back and agreed on the price hehe. I managed to be back 5 minutes before the bus arrived.
Hue to Hoi An is about 4 hours but it stretched to 5 since the bus went around picking people up from their hotels. The bus was quite a treat! As soon as I stepped on it I was puzzled since the bus driver was giving me a plastic bag. Turned out I had to take my shoes off and put it inside the bag. Me and the other tourists from my hotel were pleasantly surprised at our ride. For $5, we were not expecting this lol. I thought all the buses were like this but I found out during a 20-min stop that the others were not as comfortable.

Summary of Expenses:
Taxi Fare                                                                    30.000VND
3 Tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda (booked via hotel)    $15 USD
Kai Dinh Entrance Fee                                              80.000 VND
Minh Mang Entrance Fee                                          80.000 VND
Tu Duc Entrance Fee                                                80.000 VND
Thien Mu Pagoda                                                      Free
Bao Quoc Pagoda                                                      Free
Tu Dam Pagoda                                                          Free
The Citadel                                                                105.000 VND
Taxi to the Citadel                                                      48.000 VND (?)
Motorbike fare from the Citadel back to hotel            50.000 VND
Bus Ticket for Hoi An                                                $5
Noodle Soup                                                              40.000 VND
Bread  (I think one was 7.000VND but I can’t recall)

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