11 Nov Hue 8pm raining cats and dogs

Sunday 11 Nov, 8pm.
Yesterday evening we discovered that our overnight train would leave Hanoi at 11pm instead of 7pm so went to a water puppet show in Hanoi to make use of the time and it was brilliant, very entertaining, puppets controlled by poles under the water held by pupeteers behind a curtain very skilful.
Bunk in train a bit cramped, 3 high berths but luckily only 4 of us in our compartment good job we all get on well. Passed fields moslty wet rice, many wide rivers, water everywhere.
Arrived Hue 10.30 this morning. Hue is the old capital of Vietnam when ruled by the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945 (although the french were here also I believe) when Ho Chi Minh had his revolution. Hue is in the central region that got hit by two typhoons recently, it hasn't recovered so the continuous rain we are now experiencjng has nowhere to go so streets are flooded , some by several feet.
Our group was taken by minibus to the mauseleum of the fourth of the Nguyen kings. Tu Doc ruled for 40 years and had 140 wives but no children due to a childhood illness that incapacitated him, can you imagine any worse luck? But full marks to him for trying. The mauseleum was a sucession of impressive buildings, some of which the US had bombed during the sixties war but are now largely restored. Most Vietnamese worship past great people as well as Buddah, so this mauseleum is a sacred place. (10% of the 82m Vietnamese are catholic from the french era)
Staying at Festival Hue Hotel, walked this evening to another previously booked water puppet show, got soaked in flooded streets, shallowest was over a foot deep, everyone thought it was great fun I think we are all mad.
Best wishes to all,
John