Staying at the Moonlight Hotel in Hue is quite a different experience to staying with Trinh. It was most obvious at the breakfast buffet where we were surrounded by tables of holiday makers mostly from England, Australia and USA. 

I had a wonderful view of a young man who thought he would never be fed again and was in a hurry to eat as much as possible. His knife and fork became weapons. 

Our guide Mr Cuu or number 9 ( lucky number) as he calls himself met us promptly at 8am and we could tell was going to be good. 

What makes a good guide?

I think being prompt, smiling, speaking clear English, knowing how to pace a tour, helping and more importantly knowing the history and being able to bring it alive with story. 

We visited the Imperial Court which dates back to the 1800 and took 30 years to finish. We heard about the 13 Nguyen Emperors and the 3 who are not buried in the pagoda. 

We heard the local view on the wars including 1947 & 1968 , the French, on Ho Chi Minh , and on the Tet offensive. #9 gave us a very good overview of all of these things and how it impacts today. 

We visited the An Hein garden house. A very beautiful garden with trees lad n with fruit. 

We saw the young lovers celebrating their wedding. 

Young love

We spent the afternoon exploring the city of Hue and had dinner and multiple drinks at the Gecko Bar  across from our hotel. The bike riders from Ipswich were a novelty. 

Tomorrow back to Hoi An.