March 11th, Tuesday

We were up at 6am as the ship arrived in Chan May, Vietnam and left for our excursion in Hue (way) at 8am. The weather started out overcast but as the day wore on it got sunny and turned out to be beautiful. The trip to Hue took an hour and a half through rice paddies, small villages and a countryside that was full of ramshackle houses and plenty of water buffaloes roaming around loose. Our guide was very good at explaining the current attitudes in Vietnam. We stopped to tour the last King’s tomb and burial gardens and then proceeded into Hue where we toured a Pagoda temple. The city was full of motor scooters, bicycles and busses, but few cars. It was clean and tidy but looked old and worn down buildings. There was a fair amount of construction in the city as well as the countryside. The people are all hustling and everything is on sale and cheap.

We went on a dragon boat cruise on the Perfume River to our lunch at the current best hotel in Hue and had a good buffet lunch with folk entertainment. After lunch we were taken to the citadel which was a fort that enclosed the royal palace much like the forbidden city, little remains but the walls and gates, but they’re impressive. From there we did more shopping at a local market and then returned by bus to the ship where there were more stalls for shopping before we got back on board. We spent relatively little fro what we got which included a marble Buddha for $9, a lacquer box for $8 two toy boats for $2 and sundry other items for similar amounts.

After quick showers and a quick dinner (without dessert) we attempted laundry hoping with lots of people coming back late we’d find it easy to get wash done and then go for tea and dessert. It was a good plan but not quite perfect since others had the same idea and we didn’t get to dessert till 8pm. In any case, it got done so we could realx at sea tomorrow on the way to Ho Chi Min City.