Hue

Monday, March 9th

The day started overcast and threatening rain, so much so that both the guide and Prue turned up with umbrellas. They eventually proved unnecessary, but the lack of direct sun made most of the day quite bearable.

In view of the weather, the guide rearranged the morning so that we started with a visit to the most famous site in Hue - the Imperial Palace and gardens:

Hue was the capital of Vietnam between about 1800 and 1945, during which time there were 13 emperors. Like any dynasty, this one being the Nguyen, there were good emperors, puppet emperors, reformers and despots. Some ruled for decades, and some were bumped off after a few months.

The palace and grounds used to occupy an entire island, but even now they cover 500 hectares. Like Beijing, there is a "public" ceremonial space, and a private "forbidden city" space.

Hue was a strategic city during the Vietnam war, and it saw a lot of heavy fighting, especially during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Large parts of the compound were either destroyed, or seriously damaged by American action.

But fortunately, large parts still survive intact, or have been restored. Other parts are undergoing restoration.

The French also did their imperial best to "repatriate" treasures and artifacts to Paris, and the Vietnamese a slowly repatriating some of these looted objects.

The interior of this building is dedicated to the 13 emperors, with separate shrines documenting each of their reigns.

Prue tried her best to explain Dr Who's Tardis to our guide, but I'm afraid he didn't get it.

This small group of colourfully dressed musicians entertained passer by for no obvious reason.

And this interesting building inside the Forbidden City contained a lot of information, but I can't remember its original function.

But this one used to be the emperor's library, and now is undegoing restoration.

Another building served as a theatre, and while we were there, a large group of musicians was entertaining a smaller group of tourists. The theatre was closed until the performance concluded, whereupon the instruments were returned to their cases and the toilets were closed to the (non paying) tourists.

We took a short ride in a golf cart to the museum, which seemed to be slightly off the tourist track. It had some very interesting material, and a lovely wooden interior which we had all to ourselves.

From here we went by car a few kilometers up river to visit a famous pagoda.

The site was specially selected by lord in the 15th century because it looked like a dragon and good feng shui. He set about giving it even more feng shui - seven levels being lucky to Buddhists.

The pagoda and monastery occupy a hill top and the views all around are quite lovely. 

While we waited for our own boat to take us down river, this (slightly) over-loaded boat came sailing past.

Our boat was less Plimsoll challenged, the only cargo being Prue, me and our guide. The crew were a husband and wife, a toddler and a baby - they live on the boat, carry passengers when they can, as sell souvenirs if they can.

Once ashore, we were back into our car and off for lunch. This time we ate in a love outdoor restaurant with pavilions beside a series of ponds - each table was labelled with the name of the tour groups for which it had been booked For some reason our label was "Luxury"!

OK, so the food was very nice, and once again the quantities manaeable.

We were off to visit the tombs of two of the seven emperors buried outside Hue. The first is apparently the largest, and was constructed during the reign of this particular emperor.

This pavilion contains a carved stone, and is near the entrance to a walled area containing the sarcophagus.

The second tomb is apparently the most ornate, and wasn't completed until after the emperor died relatively prematurely in his early 40's.

Like the previous emperor's tomb, this one is also guarded by stone warriors a horse and an elephant. However, these are original because they only date from the early 20th century (the other emperor's guards were replaced due to wear).

Feng Shui again - the emperor wanted his tomb to face west towards the seting sun.

The tomb itself sits underneath this chamber, which contains a huge amount of broken ceramic inlaid walls and objects.

We were back at the hotel by 3:15pm and Prue needed her caffeine fix - one thing you learn about food out of context is that it neither looks nor tastes the same as the real thing. Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk anyone? Oh well, it did the job (apparently).