We took the overnight train down from Ha Noi. It wasn’t as nice as the train to Chiang Mai, but wasn’t too bad. Four of us shared a sleeper compartment. We got some beers, put on some music and made a night of it. It turned out to be quite fun.

Almost exactly as we pulled into Hue, the rain began. Sheets and sheets of rain. We had planned to spend the day riding around the town and the countryside on motorbikes, but that plan was out now. We did hire a minibus to take us to the Citadel. It’s Vietnam’s version of the forbidden city. It was absolutely beautiful and our guide was fun. Kooky, but fun. He has learned English just from speaking with different foreigners, so almost every word comes with a different accent. First Kiwi, the Aussie, then Indian. Difficult to understand, but amusing to listen to.

While we were walking around the Citadel, the rain really picked up and soaked us all to the bone. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get many pictures as pulling out the camera was impossible at times.

After the Citadel, we headed up to a Buddhist nunnery for a vegetarian lunch. It was just outside the city and very quite tranquil. The food was delicious and we got to learn a little about their practices and customs. After lunch we headed to see a local fortune teller. She was a tiny little woman who must have been around a hundred. She took each of our hands and told us what we could expect. Apparently, I’m to be married in two years and will have five children. Not sure what I make of it, but she was pretty cute and made us all laugh. Tomorrow we head to Hoi An.