Thursday, June 21, 2018

Central Vietnam (2018): Hue Beaulieu Boutique Hotel & Imperial Citadel

OUR HOTEL IN HUE
The private transfer that we engaged from Hoi An to Hue dropped us right in front of Beaulieu Boutique Hotel, which is the hotel we stayed when in Hue. From the moment I stepped into the hotel, I can notice almost the whole place including the room and bathroom are manicured in blue and turquoise colour. Oh boy! I'm instantly loving this place already. Not just me, even my friends and my mom also fall in love with this hotel and how we wish we could stay longer but unfortunately we just stayed for a night only - too bad! 

2018 Vietnam Hue Beaulieu Boutique Hotel  02

2018 Vietnam Hue Beaulieu Boutique Hotel  01

2018 Vietnam Hue Beaulieu Boutique Hotel  03

Date Stayed: 16 - 17 January 2018 (1 night)
Room Rate: RM140 per night for a superior twin room with city view and breakfast is included (Booked from Agoda)

GOLDEN RICE RESTAURANT
It's time for dinner! We asked for a recommendation from the hotel staff where's the best restaurant that serve authentic Vietnamese delicacies and she suggested Golden Rice Restaurant which situated right across the road. Since all of us were so lazy to travel so far away, hence we decided to give a try. To be honest, I'm not very particular when comes to food and so I'm quite okay with anything as long as it's edible. The restaurant consists of two floors and because the ground floor was full house, we're being served to the upper floor which is more quiet with lesser customers. 

Here are the few authentic Vietnamese dishes we ordered: 

Hue Golden Rice Restaurant 1
Fried spring roll with pork - Crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside.

Hue Golden Rice Restaurant 2
Hue's bloating fern shaped cake - a type of cake considered to be a specialty of Hue

Hue Golden Rice Restaurant 3
Grilled chicken with sate in bamboo pipe

Our verdict? The food was very fresh, tasted amazing and well-presented. We're indeed enjoyed the authentic flavours and the price was kinda reasonable too. The total bill cost us VNM 345,000 which is approximately to RM62 which including two drinks. Not that expensive, right? Thanks to the hotel staff for not disappointed us with her recommendation. 

IMPERIAL CITY (HUE CITADEL)
Rise and shine, Hue! It's time to explore Vietnam's Imperial City. After filling our hungry tummy with wide spread of breakfast choices, we left the hotel to visit the Imperial City, or locally known as Citadel. As the journey from our hotel to Imperial City takes almost half an hour (by walking), we decided to call "Grab". Yes, Grab is available in Vietnam but unfortunately not in Hue apparently. After trying for almost 10-15 minutes, we gave us and tried our luck to hail for taxi. Do bear in mind, taxis in Vietnam are well-known for scam especially towards the foreign tourists with the ridiculous overcharge of taxi fares. There are even fake taxis in Vietnam. It's advisable to take taxis from reputable companies such Mai Linh and Vinasun. 

Luck was on our side where we got a honest taxi driver. He even returned my change too, which I shouldn't bother about cause the amount is absolutely insignificant to us. By the time we arrived the Imperial City, it seems to be quite early and there are not many tourists around. It's a good sign anyway, cause don't have to worry our photos will be photobombed again. 

2018 Vietnam Hue Imperial City 02

The Imperial City is a walled palace within the Citadel. If you've been to Forbidden City in Beijing of China, you would find this complex resembles the one in China but of course relatively smaller in terms of size. 

2018 Vietnam Hue Imperial City 03

Within the Imperial City, there is a certain part to be known as Purple Forbidden City and the access to the innermost enclosure was restricted to the imperial family only. It was believed that the Purple Forbidden City had many buildings and hundred of rooms. Sadly to say that largely of the buildings within the wall were heavily damaged during the war time and today, you can only see a sprinkling of buildings like temples, walls and gates which remain unhurt and not being destroyed by the war.  

2018 Vietnam Hue Imperial City 04

2018 Vietnam Hue Imperial City 05
Nah see! No people which good time to take a good photo leh...

2018 Vietnam Hue Imperial City 06

Overall, we spent almost two hours here cause the walled palace seems to be quite large. Shame to admit this but we're lost when looking for exit. It took us almost half an hour searching for the exit gate as there is no proper signboard around. Taxi fares from/to our hotel cost us around VNM 30,000 to VNM 45,000 which I use Grab as the benchmark. Our trip to Hue is over and next, we're going back to Da Nang!

Admission Fee: VNM 150,000 (approx. to RM27)
Opening Hours: 8 am to 5.30pm everyday except for Thursday which opens until 10pm

3 comments:

  1. Nice to see the hotel. It looks neat and clean. Rooms are spacious. Yummy and good varieties of food!
    No words to express the beauty of the Imperial City. The outer wall is big with beautiful architecture in it. Interior looks awesome:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would love to visit Vietnam some day. In my family holiday bucket.

    I am not so into Vietnamese cuisine but would love to try new stuff.

    The forbidden city sure is big. One would lost without proper springboard and guide.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have bookmarked this walled palace! It is historical with impressive architecture which attracts me.

    ReplyDelete

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