Zum Wilden Mann

Definitively Hue is one of the highlights of every Vietnam travel. The former imperial capital (1802 - 1945) of the Nguyen Dynasty lies on the banks of the Perfume River.

Yellow Chrysanthemums are the most used flowers around the Tet-festivities. The park along the river had thousands of them. Still the traffic consists mainly of motorcycles. We wonder how this bridge will look like, when in ten years or so many people will have upgraded to a car.

The citadel and 'Forbidden City'

The Ngyen dynasty decided to build a new capital and citadel, so the construction works started in 1804. The citadel was enclosed in fortified ramparts 2*2 km, ringed by a moat.During the war the citadel suffered enormous damage in 1968 and after it was neglected because they were seen by the victorious Communist party as feudal relics of the past. Since then there has been a change of policy, and a lot of restoration work has been accomplished. Today, many buildings and greens look freshly polished, but some ruins still wait for reconstruction.

This must be the loveliest café in the entire Vietnam. Actually it is not a café, but a pavilion in the Queen's living quarters on the western side of the Forbidden City, a beautiful space of finely carved wood overlooking a fish pond. Half-hidden in a corner, a young lady runs a simple refreshment service: a glass cupboard with some snacks, a fridge with chilled sodas and ice creams, and a boiler to make coffee. You place your order and a minute later you'll be sitting at one of the carved tables, drinking the rich, flavoursome Vietnamese coffee poured on ice cubes in tall, cylindrical glasses, while you watch the kois in the pond, just like the Queens of the Nguyen dynasty may have done in their heydays.

A representative example of something we have experienced all the time, in the streets of Hoi An, in Hue, in Dalat's Flower Park, everywhere: children with Herbert. A child spots him, runs to him, looks up with curiosity and then takes position for a picture while an artillery of photos comes from the smartphones and tablets of amused parents and onlookers.

Bach Ma National park

Located between Hue and Da Nang in the Annamite mountains, the park is the center of the last contiguous forest in Central Vietnam.

We took a taxi, as there was no bus, and made the mistake not to take a guide. The taxidriver (no word of English) took us two 2 points, where tourists are supposed to go and could not be persuaded to stop at places, that were intersting for us. Still it was quite an experience. A great landscape !

Lonely planet and others say traffic is very slow in Vietnam due to bad road conditions. We found this not to be true, most of the roads are excellent and where not, like some parts of the road between Da Nang and Hue, construction workers were busy. We rather witnessed, that traffic is slow sometimes, because the motorcycle drivers stick to no rule. They drive where and when they want to on whatever lane.

The Visitors centre is still on the foot of the mountain (foto above right). From there a steep roads leads up to the peak nearly 1500 metres high. On te way were just 3 or so colonial villasthat serve as guesthouses today, but all were closed at this time of the year and we couln't even get a drink.

Tree ferns and a big variety of other beautiful ferns, some flowers and a snake were on the Rhodondendron trail, that ended with a waterfall and a marvellous view.