Hue

Abandoned water slides.

Huế was for a time the capital of Vietnam. Thus it's main attraction is the Imperial City, but for me, my main goal was to go see the abandoned water park in the outskirt of the city. To reach Hue, I took a bus in Hoi An and in just 4 hours I got there.

The city isn't too big so I walked from the touristic center to the imperial city and spent an afternoon there. Since Hue is in the center of the country, close to the border between north and south Vietnam, it sustained a lot of destruction during the war. From the hundreds of buildings in the imperial city, only a few could be restored. You can only imagine from the empty spaces and old pictures how it must have been.

8 km south of the city center is Hồ Thủy Tiên, an abandoned water park. I rented a bicycle and headed there. I went late in the afternoon to take pictures with the sunset. Once I got close a nice local boy told me the best route to go. Apparently it's better to enter from the north, because the guard in the south is more strict. I got inside and after a few minutes an old man went after me with his scooter. He explained that the place was closed and I had to get out. I paid him 20'000 VND and he agreed to let me go if I promised not to break or tag anything. I was happy to have my bicycle because the place is quite big. The park has become famous the past years, thus I wasn't the only one there. A handful of tourists and local kids playing in the lac. To find it, look on Google Map or ask at your hostel.

Also if you stay there you need to try the local cuisine. It's delicious. They have a lot of refined imperial dishes, like the rice cake. My favorite was the Bún bò Huế, noodle soup with a delicate mix of spicy and sour.

Main structure in the water park. It has broken aquarium inside and stairs to go up in the head of the dragon.




It's eerie to be alone at dusk in an abandoned water park.



Imperial city.



Imperial city.

Imperial city.

Imperial city.



Tanks from the war in front of the Imperial city.

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