Hue

From Hoi An we got on a bus in the morning and too a beautiful drive along the coast to Hue. The road goes through endless rice fields, lusciously green hills and next to the beautiful untouched coast. When we arrived in Hue nobody was there to pick us up from the drop off point so we found our own way to the hotel which was in a great location for walking to the Perfume River and the citadel. Once we had checked in, the guide that was supposed to pick us up turned up and gave some random excuse as to why she couldn't be there and how sorry she was. Anyway, we then spoke with her and organised to meet her the next day in the morning so that she could take us to the Thien Mu Pagoda and the Royal Tomb of Minh Mang. We would go and see the citadel ourselves in the afternoon once the heat of the day had resided.

The Citadel

Kinh Tanh, the citadel, used to be an imperial city on the banks of the Perfume River (Song Huong). It was bombed multiple times by the Americans during the war and is now but a shadow of what it used to be. Inside the citadel is the imperial enclosure, which is where the emperor's functions were carried out - what can be seen now are beautiful gardens and the remnants of what must have been impressive ceremonial halls (one or two have been restored a little, but I'm guessing not to the standard that they used to be).

Inside the imperial enclosure there is a part known as the forbidden purple city, this used to be reserved for the emperor's private life and only eunuchs were permitted to enter. Nowadays it is open for everybody and the difference progression from one part of the citadel to the next is difficult to determine.

Funnily enough, the emperor who built the citadel, had been to France to study and had western elements built into the citadel - these included a tennis court. This tennis court is open for use (at least to some), and we saw some Vietnamese playing tennis. The weekend that we were in Hue was the weekend of National Day (2 September) and so the people were enjoying a few relaxed days off from work. We watched this group of men playing tennis for a while, and eventually they invited us to join them and hang out, which we did. Of course we had to put our tennis skills to the test and got absolutely destroyed in doubles, not even making one point - quite embarassing, but at least we were a cause for entertainment for them.  

Once we started talking to them they invited us to join them at their party after they finished their tournament, which we gladly accepted. We were taken to the restaurant on the back of mopeds and got the weirdest looks us two white people walked into this totally local place with a group of ten or so Vietnamese men in sports clothing - I do concede that it must have been a sight that is not so common.

The dinner that had been ordered was goat; and when I say goat, I mean all of the goat, including its blood. I have to honestly say that I was happy that I don't eat meat, because I don't know that I would have been able to eat it - which I really would have had to have done. Having said that, Marcel did say that it tasted good and actually has no taste, it's just the knowledge that it's goat's blood that makes it difficult to eat. They did say that it is something which even the Vietnamese don't all like, so were quite happy when Marcel said he enjoyed it. Surprisingly, the food did not come with rice, but with rice crackers, some bread and vegetables obviously. And of course let us not forget the never ending flow of beer that caused substantial merriment amongst all those seated at the table.



The winners

 It was quite clear that the people we were with were of the higher class - which could be seen from the fact that they were playing tennis in the first place and by the fact that they could play well - which means that they must have had lessons (which I cannot imagine a normal Vietnamese family being able to afford). Also, most of them could either speak French (the older ones) or English and the ones that were our age had or were studying abroad. So, it turned out that most of them were either working for or affiliated with the government and were directors or vice directors of various deparments. It was very interesting to speak to them all and gain a different perspective of life in Vietnam - and surprisingly it was not as skewed a view as may have been expected.

We really had a great night and were invited to come again next year. It is experiences like this that remain memorable and cannot be appreciated without travelling and being open to other cultures and people.

The second day in Hue was as bad as the first day and night were good. It started off when we met our guide in the morning and she had not organised a car as had been discussed the day before. Then instead of being helpful and helping us figure out alternatives, she just sat there being smug - like a person will do if they know they are wrong and just do not admit it. When we said that she should try to organise a car for us please, she did so for a ridiculous price, which we eventually agreed to (anything is better than sitting around just arguing and losing the couple of hours that we had left) - and then she proceeded to say that the car was not available anymore. I don't quite understand what kind of a travel guide does not have contact numbers of more than one driver! Anyways, so our great plan of going to see the pagoda and the tomb was destroyed by this woman's incompentence of epic proportions.

Thien Mu Pagoda

We ended up taking a boat up the river to the Pagoda, which was beautiful - but over priced and of course she probably pocketed half the money. The Pagoda was founded in 1601 and is still functioning now. It lies on the river. It is the pagoda of the Thich quang Duc, the monk who burnt himself on the street in protest to the president's policies. I'm sure you will all know the famous picture of the monk burning on the street with the car in the background - the car is now at the pagoda. The pagoda is known as the pagoda of the heavenly lady and this is because of a love story, where the man saw a woman and she was heavenly - which is probably the only useful information that the guide managed to give (and she did so multiple times) - unless you want to count her telling us that "this is a bell" when standing right in front of a bell.

The pagoda and its surroundings are really peaceful, at the entrance there is a seven layered stupa representing the seven steps to becoming a Buddha. Inside the complex, there is a mausoleum of one of the main monks of the pagoda, and his stupa is six levels high, meaning that he attained the highest level, short only of being Buddha.


"This is a bell"



Train to Hanoi

After walking around the pagoda, we then took the boat back and got ready to take the night train to Hanoi. When we checked our tickets, the next wonderful surprise was sprung on us - namely that they had failed to book us tickets in the same compartment. Now this was really the straw that broke the camel's back. I fail to understand how, if we booked our tour months ago, it is so difficult for them to book train tickets for two of us in the same compartment! Little did we know that in addition to this wonderful mess, they also managed to book us into a random carriage and not the one normally reserved for tourists/foreigners. So much for a restful night - we ended up with a family of four and us in a cabin for four peopleand then when this family got out, and we thought it couldn't get any worse, a family of five joined us in the wonderful cabin.

Now, normally this would be ok, if you had air conditioning (as was paid for), but surprise surprise - there was none! Anyway, I could go on for ages about this and my irritation, but I'm over it now and we managed to have a beautiful day after calming down a bit once we arrived in Hanoi and were transferred Halong Bay.