Day 15: Wed 13 Nov - Hue to Ninh Binh

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24-33 deg C
Ride: 20km

"Explore Hue and visit the citadel. Take a boat ride along the Perfume River and visit tombs of the Nguyen emperors. Transfer to the train station. Take the overnight on the Reunification Express Train to Ninh Binh. Dinner box on train. Hotel: Yen Nhi Hotel Ninh Binh. Cycle 25km."

We pretty much stuck to the script today. We rode through a 'normal person's' cemetery on the way to visit the tomb of an emperor. There was an uphill bit to get through the normal cemetery, and, of course, what goes up must always come down. The downhill was a bit scary as it had been washed away in places and some of the gravel was quite loose. Greg made it all the way to the bottom, and Wendy made it three quarters of the way down before she started second guessing herself and becoming a tad unsafe. Greg walked up some of the way to help Wendy down with the bike. 

In between the two cemeteries, we visited a village that makes incense sticks and Bob had a go at making a lemon grass one. They are very colourful and we had our photo taken with them. It was then time for lunch, then we took a boat ride on the Perfume River to visit some more tombs and a seven-storey pagoda that was built in 1845 and is more than 21m in height.

The Citadel of the Nguyen family was next, but because we were running short on time, we only had a 30 minute guided tour. The guide had a  great sense of humour and gave us a lot of detail, most of which has already been forgotten!

We rushed to the train station only to find out the Reunification Express had been delayed by 40 minutes! So we had an ice cream and sat around and chatted until it was time to line up to board. We were in Carriage 9A in a four-person sleeper carriage with Mark and Sue. Whilst not the most comfortable seats/beds, we were able to get a few hours sleep on the almost eleven hour trip.

The downhill bit

Wendy trying to blend in with the incense sticks

Bob having a go at making an incense stick

Entrance to the special people's cemetery






Farewelling Mr Young (truck driver and bike mechanic)

Farewelling Mr Visa (money man)

Farewelling Mr Trung (bus driver)

Lunch venue


Carrot!

Our boat for our cruise on the Perfume River









The Citadel



The Reunification Express coming in to the station

On the train




















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