The Original Capital of Vietnam

Posted on 11. Jan, 2011 by in Blog, Travel

Our stay in Hue was a two night affair, which involved one full day of touring. Hue, the original capital of Vietnam, has a deep and colorful past and is centered around the Perfume River, named for a particular type of aromatic flower that used to grow on its banks prior to being herbicided into extinction. Our tour started off by hopping onto a dragon boat which has become the home of numerous displaced farmers who left the countryside during the war seeking safety from the combatants and a better life, which degenerated into having their wives and daughters servicing the US soldiers on their boats in order to eke out any form of subsistence. Numerous boat people were Viet Cong sympathizers and lured unwitting GI’s into their boats for a session which sometimes resulted in an eight inch spike being hammered into the skull of the unsuspecting customer. Happy Endings are obviously quite subjective in this country.