Perfume River

Our guide picked us up at our hotel at 8 AM and drove us to the river. We boarded our sampan about 5 miles up river from Hue. We had the boat to ourselves, just us, a guide and 4 crew. (We cruised the river all morning taking in the sights, Most people live a very simple existence along the banks. Gardens often were terraced down to the water, in many places dense jungle hung over the banks. The small sampans were hand paddled, the larger ones had loud smoking engines. The water was surprising clean and clear. The surface often had clumps of flowering water hyacinth floating along. We passed a crumbling old town hanging over the bank. Even though swimming in fresh water in the tropics isn't a good idea ( pathogens ) I could resist diving in the Perfume.