Last day in Hue

Today is our last day in Hue, we've checked out of our hotel and booked a sleeper coach for tonight headed for Ninh Binh. It's about another 12/13 hours north of here near Hanoi (the largest city in northern Vietnam). It's a bit of a shame the weather has been so rubbish in Hue, and the fact that any tourism sights are out of town. If they were within walking distance, we would brave the weather and check them out, but the best and cheapest way to see them is a half or full day tour on the back of a motorbike. Based on the fact that the people here drive like they have a death wish and the traffic is crazy busy, neither me or Isabella really want to go on the back of a motorbike, especially not in the pouring rain. Besides, we've seen plenty of temples, bridges and what not to last us a life time, so to miss out one city's worth it's not a major problem. Although there was one place I quite wanted to see, which was a museum containing the car that belonged to the monk who set himself on fire in 1963. He did in protest against Ngô Đình Diệm was the president of South Vietnam in the 60's and persecuted Buddhists. The photo of him on fire was famously used on the cover of Rage Against The Machine's album.

We found a really nice cafe last night called Mardarin's which is owned by a Vietnamese photographer, Mr Cu. All the walls in the cafe are covered with large prints of the photos he has taken around Vietnam. He is clearly quite successful too, as he had a few thousand pounds worth of Canon 5D Mk II kicking around, and when we went there again this morning for breakfast (usual pancake for Izzy, omelette for me!) he was unpackaging his new iPad. You can see his photos on his website here.