We started the day with an early morning breakfast with seasonal fruits, omelettes and bacon. We then left by bike for our long journey to the citadel. We enjoyed a tour by our guide Sunni. We saw where only the king and his family could go and how it was severely damaged in the American War. We then rode to the colosseum where once a year an event was held by the king where a lion or tiger fought an elephant. Every year the elephant would win (primarily because the tiger had its teeth filed). It was very interesting to see the tiger scratches inside their cages.
After a nice look and some photos around the colosseum we rode to a side shop where they made incense (and conical hats) and had a cool refreshing drink. We went to a Buddhist pagoda which served vegetarian food that was delicious and made my taste buds tingle. It was enjoyable to learn about one of the many religions of Vietnam – a type of Buddhism where many Gods are believed.
After we had enjoyed our beautiful lunch we had a calm and fun ride back to the hotel. We all wanted to go for a swim so we went to our rooms, had a shower, and enjoyed a cool swim in the roof top pool which was on the 11th floor. The pool was extremely refreshing and had amazing views of the city of Hue.
Once we had completed our swim we came down to the lobby ready to go out to dinner. We separated for dinner and went to a restaurant of our choice. We went to a restaurant called Ushi which had very tasty and lovely western food along with some traditional dishes. Ushi had a pool table where we spent time enjoying a game of pool. After we came back to the hotel we went to our rooms for a shower and packed our bags for the train.
Alex, Ben, Chris
