I've always wanted to catch the coastal train from Da Nang to Hue called the Heritage Journey. Hue is on my bucket list, being the ancient capital of Vietnam.
I caught the Heritage Train departing Da Nang at 1520 on Monday.
This train is the more luxurious one. It was comfortable...
There was a dining car...
It was a three hour trip and the train goes pretty slowly as the track is very windy. The views were very nice...
One of the carriages had a singer...
Looking out the back. It's very green...
It was early evening when we arrived at the station in Hue and I felt like a walk. So I walked along the Perfume River to Jade Hotel.
The hotel was old style and I would say 3 star. It was clean and the people were very friendly. It worked out at A$43 per night so for that price, I had no complaints.
I unpacked and headed out for dinner. After dinner I went looking for a couple of bars I had read about but couldn't find them. I eventually ended up at one of them called The Secret Garden...
It was nice but there was only one other patron, so I had one drink and then walked back to the hotel.
The next morning I had an early breakfast in the hotel then headed to the Imperial City (see separate post).
After that, I caught a Grab to Thien Mu Pagoda which was next to the river and a very nice spot.
In the afternoon I walked to the Perfume River...
Then I had a walk around the tourist area which I had not found last night. Love to try a Boddy and FOOF massage :-)
Then I tried the local beer. It was good...
The next morning I had breakfast in the hotel...
Today I want to see one of the royal tombs which are scattered across the city. This was an interesting sight on my way...
The tomb I chose was the tomb of Khai Dinh which was a 20 minute drive away. This is a photo from the website...
This one cost VND150,000 to go into...
It didn't take me long to go through and then I got a Grab to my next destination. Grab are easy to get and very cheap.
Next stop is an abandoned water park which was an unusual but interesting thing to do. I hired a bike for VND20,000 (A$1) and rode into the park...
It's quiet and quite pretty...
My Grab driver was waiting for me so I got him to take me to the river as I wanted to walk along it...
I stopped for an iced coffee...
Not sure what this building was...
I decided to change hotels as I wanted a pool, so I found a really nice resort called Pilgrimage Village. I got a really good rate and it's only 20 minutes away...
For A$115 oer night it was amazing value...
They gave me a villa overlooking the pool...
It's really nice and not busy, as it is not peak season...
This is another pool...
I went to the onsite restaurant and had lunch. It was good...
My room is really nice...
Huda is the local beer. I had one by the pool at happy hour which is buy one get one free. So it was VND89,000 for one (second one free).
I then went to the shop across the road and bought 6 for VND90,000. Exactly the same!
I went for a walk around the local area. It's very quiet once you get off the main road.
The pool at night...
I ended up eating dinner in the hotel restaurant but it was quite expensive and I wish I had gone here, which was directly opposite the hotel...
The next morning I went here for a coffee. It was very local but I made myself understood. The coffee was VND20,000...
After one more swim, I caught a Grab to the railway station for my trip back to Da Nang. Given it was a three hour trip, I thought I shoukd eat. So I went to a cafe near the station and had an excellent coffee. The food however was not amazing :-) It was rice with shrimp (not bad), pork (very average) and she proudly included a fish that I didn't touch...
I enjoyed my couple of days in Hue.
No comments:
Post a Comment