Vietnam - Hue

Hue was once the cultural capital of Vietnam, but you wouldn't know it. It's a small town on the banks of the perfume river, which glitters. Emperors lived here, and still do, in a way. Their fabulous ornate tombs are dotted about the surrounding villages, and we decided to see them by motorbike. Actually we didn't so much decide for ourselves. This cheeky, squeaky little man (Thu) accosted us and before we knew it, Scott was on the back of his bike being zoomed off to get a refund on the boat trip ticket we'd already bought.

Thu and his ten brothers roared up in their shades, picked us all up, and off we went into the countryside in convoy. We saw bombsites, viewpoints, pagoda's, ancient ruins and the tombs. The most recent one was built by Emperor Bao Dai in about 1925 (a long time before he died), in the Rococo french style. It's really stunning, clamped onto the side of the mountain like a curly white barnacle. Thu said it was better from the outside than the inside, so we stood in a rice field looking upwards.

Rice grows like wheat, it looks quite similar really. The rice husks are like wild grass seeds. The seeds are pounded to remove the husk, and in some places the husk is used to fuel the fires that cook the rice. I like circles like that.