We woke up to a buffet breakfast. After the delicious meal we went on a long bus ride to the Marble Mountains, a beautiful landscape covered with trees, ancient temples and lots of fog, right in the middle of a city. The time at the mountains was spent exploring caves. However due to the torrential downpour, the abseiling session was cancelled due to health hazards. However, we learnt about the Buddhist monuments surrounding the cave system, the history and culture of the temples and admiring the natural beauty of the caves.
After the wet and tiring cave explorations, we sat a 3 hour trip bus trip to Hue (Pronounced Way), through some strong, opaque fog. The day at Hue began with a terrifying and awkward (the sitting conditions were a little cramped) cyclo ride. We saw more of the insane traffic in Vietnam, where people drove through red lights, cut close to each other and pushed food carts through heavy traffic without much worry.
The ride ended at the Forbidden City, home of the Vietnamese royal family during the 17-20th century. We visited the throne room, filled with intricately carved wood coloured red and gold. We learnt of a the history of the Imperial Family and a battle that had taken place during the Vietnam War, which had destroyed and sacred the Forbidden City.
The day ended with a “Royal Dinner”, where everyone was dressed up in traditional, fancy garbs, a King (Saxon) and Queen (Ashley) was crowned for the evening and was served a meal of beautifully decorated meals, whilst the rest of the group was forced to serve the royals drinks, recreating the times of imperial Vietnamese empire. We are looking forward to a more thorough exploration of Hue tomorrow by bicycle!
John Z and Daniel I