Buddhist monks at the Citadel, Hue
The classic nearby way to get away from the city is a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda, and its cave of Buddhist shrines. Several travel agencies offer van rides down to the riverside embarking point, where visitors are led down into rowboats, which local women drive on the way down to the temple.
This is a charming way to get there, with wooden homes along the banks to be admired, and with jumping fish and water lilies to keep you company.
While Vietnamese drive with one hand on their constantly abused horn, and notoriously don’t slow down for people crossing the street, there is much more enjoyment than annoyances to be found in this awakening land, which has been open to the world only for the last two decades or so.
Indeed, with the friendly interactions between travellers here and their hosts being what they are, surely visitors will continue to keep coming for years to come.
