Gates of Hue's Imperial City.

The old part of town is modelled after the Beijing’s Forbidden City. Even though it is of a smaller scale, its size is still staggering. Being a World Cultural Heritage Monument, the proceeds from the tourist tickets are used to maintain the dated premises.

WEATHER : Fine.

GETTING THERE : You can arrange for the jeep at Bach Ma National Park to give you a ride all the way to Cau Hai. From the main road in Cau Hai, flag down a minivan that heads to Hue’s Southern Bus Station. That minivan ride cost me 30,000 VND. The bus station is about a 10-15 minutes ride from the city centre by scooter taxi (10,000 VND).

ACCOMMODATION : A good range of high end to budget accommodation is available. Budget accommodation is not easily seen from the main roads. There are numerous guesthouses hidden along Le Loi street. For US$7/night, I was quite happy with the facilities of HALO guesthouse (10A/66 Le Loi). I especially enjoyed using their brand new bathtub.

BIRDING HIGHLIGHTS : Do remember to bring along your binoculars when you visit the Imperial City. After passing so many “birdless” towns, I was thrilled to discover that Hue’s Imperial City has a much higher density of birds than most towns in Vietnam.  Upon sighting a colony of White Shouldered Starlings in the morning inside the front courtyard, I returned to my guesthouse to get my binoculars. When I returned in the evening, many more species of birds were seen, especially near the ponds on both sides of rear exit the palace.

Birds seen there were White-Shouldered Starling (I did not get to see them elsewhere in Vietnam), Red-Whiskered Bulbul, Plaintive Cuckoo, Red-Collared Dove, Scarlet-Backed Flowerpecker, Chinese Pond Heron, Little Heron, Black-Capped Kingfisher, Crested Mynah, Oriental Magpie Robin, Yellow Wagtail, Lanceolated Warbler and Eurasian Treesparrow.

I am sure there are more species there but I ran out of time.

LEECHES : None.

MAP/SKETCH : Nil

SCOPE: Optional.

LESSONS LEARNT : Nil.