North-Central Vietnam

We stayed in a couple of towns on our way south from Halong Bay: Ninh Binh, Hue (Whay).
In Ninh Binh, we took a river boat around yet another landscape from another world. Paddling along the river, we visited beautiful pagodas (temples) seemingly left in the middle of nowhere and rowed through impossibly long caves, all while passing under the limestone mountains that seemed to take in our every move.

Heading south from Ninh Binh, we went to Hue, the old capital of the southern empire going back a few thousand years.  We went there to see the old capital compound because we were told it was impressive.  We were not disappointed. 

The old city is entirely surrounded by a moat and then a wall, stretching 10km.  It can only be accessed via a few bridges.  Once inside that compound, which is itself a fully-functioning city, there is yet another moat and another wall to separate the palace.  Of course, inside that is yet another wall to separate the Forbidden City for the royal family.  Luckily for us, getting in now is just a matter of money.

Unlucky for us (and for the people of Hue), the city sits very near what was once the DMZ and there was heavy fighting here resulting in destruction of a lot of the old capital.  Hue was a major site of the infamous Tet Offensive by the Viet Cong that many site as a major turning point in US public opinion about the war and in the Viet Cong’s ability to mobilize south.  There was still plenty to see of the capital now and the war seems a minor blip on the screen when looking at thousand year-old buildings from a forgotten time.