The Royals

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Hue (pronounced Hoo-ay), on the banks of the huge Perfume River, is about half way down Vietnam in the thin coastal region of the country. With a population of almost a million it has the regulatory hoards of mopeds seen all over Vietnam. The Perfume river is so named as it used to be lovely smelling, now it whiffs of the dragon boats and city pollution - so not quite so perfumey until you get a bit further out of the city anyway.

The city was the Capital of Vietnam until the last Emperor, Bao Di, abdicated in 1945 to Ho Chi Minh, ending the feudal monarchy. There still remains in Hue a Citadel area where the Emperors used to live during their reigns. Sadly the Tet offensive in 1968 ripped the city apart. The Viet Cong held out in the Citadel for nearly 2 months, but many of the ancient buildings were destroyed. Since 1993 the Citadel (Kinh Thanh) has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site.

That's the facts bit, now to what we made of it all on our tour around the city...

It was a bleary eyed group that set off for a tour of Hue, the train journey having taken it out of most people. We arrived at the citadel walled area to find that the Tourist Festival going on this week had involved some massive production the night before, so lots of noisy putting away of staging was going on making it hard to hear what Phat was trying to tell us, but I got a bit of it.

The whole citadel is surrounded by a huge wall and moats with 10 gates that could be closed off to protect the emperor if invaders tried to get in. The buildings are copies of the Chinese style, mostly painted in red and gold (for the emperor) and green (for his manderins). The south facing main gateway Ngo Mon (south for good luck by the way and cos it faces the mountains and the river and is therefore well nice) has 3 large doors at the front for the emperor and his manderins to enter by and 2 large entrances at the side for the servant types and elephants! At the top of the building is some Chinese writing (the precursor to Vietnam's more western style script - thanks to the French!) saying 'Long Life'. The Emperor would make proclamations from this gate which would then be shouted (or should that be squeaked?) by his Eunochs to the crowds.

Outside the citadel we saw the largest flagpole in Vietnam set on three levels representing earth, humans and heaven with a massive red Vietnamese flag with the yellow star in the centre.

Having paid the entrance fee, we then had to walk about 5 metres along the tunnel entrance and hand over the ticket to a ticket guy! Bit of job creation going on maybe? We then spent the next hour or so looking around the amazing pagoda style buildings that remained following the restoration work that had gone on following the Tet offensive destruction. We were shown some bullet holes that were still in the wood work. The reference to elephants that had once been part of the citadel life was being reinacted by a couple of sad looking animals plodding around with tourists sat on their backs, one with only one tusk. Phat came out with his standard elephant joke - How can you tell the difference between male and and female elephants? The male has 5 legs - wha wha whahhhhhh!

We also saw a 'model village' style mock up of what the whole site looked like before most of it was destroyed. Such a terrible loss that this site built over hundreds of years could be destroyed in less than 2 months. Fortunately there is still enough to give you a good impression of what an amazing place this used to be in its entirety.

We took the opportunity to use the giant urns full of water to make reflection head photos (see below) and as the others went off to the 'happy house' or a toilet break, I took the opportunity to try and find the two geocaches, one virtual and one actual that were inside the citadel. I quickly got the virtual and will have to email a couple of dates to the guy who set it up to get my 'log', but could I find the little box cache? I hadn't realised the clue was a 'spoiler' photo and so just wasn't sure where I was supposed to be looking. So frustrating! I had to leave off my search as the group was ready to go. I resolved to return if I had a spare hour or so later on.

And so we carried on with our Hue tour, this time visiting a tomb of one of the Emperors, Tu Duc just outside Hue. This is a relatively recent site, the 3 year construction starting in 1864. The tomb was designed and built before the Emperor died, which seems a bit morbid. Maybe he was just getting a tad bored, being the longest reigning Emperor (36 years rule), so got on with his death preparations to wile away the the time. He even lived in a couple of pavillions near the lake writing poetry, hunting and fishing. It was very peaceful, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. We saw some beautiful temples, dedicated to his wives and predecessors and also the actual burial/tomb area.

Later we stopped off at a place called Ushi's restaurant for some lunch. Also there, were a group of US Vietnam Veterans, who we found out from the owner after they'd left, come on the same day every year. She was singing their praises, much to my surprise. Apparently they help at the local school and donate money to them. She proudly showed us the group photos she has taken with the group every year and also the plaque they had given her this year in commeration of some anniversary. Amazing how forgiving the Vietnamese can be to these guys, who although many would not have agreed with the war, nevertheless were soldiers and did kill many Vietnamese in this terrible war.

After lunch the weary crew headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on the lack of sleep from the overnight train. Me and Jodie now had a Kingsize bed each to luxuriate in and SOFT mattresses. Bliss 😊 We had to be up and ready for our Royal meal however, our bit of ritual tourist humiliation, getting dressed up in Vietnamese costumes, but also having a huge banquet style meal. Gino and Natalie were crowned King and Queen and sat at their head table whilst us serfs sat below. The non fish eaters and vegetarian (me) were further consigned to the naughty table again (as on the boat at Halong Bay) and then dish after dish began to appear decorated by the most amazing vegetable carvings of birds and the like. We had some traditional musicians and singers to accompany our meal and the one string ban dau was again in evidence. One of the singers used little tea cups as percussion instruments, a bit like the way we use the spoons. Official photos were taken and dutifully bought - I promise to show the evidence of the momentous occasion of Lottie actually wearing .... PINK!

We then headed off to the 'Brown Eye Bar - Open 5pm until the last one leaves!' It was a kind of grundgy bar with graffiti walls, a mix of 70s and 90s hits playing, jenga and cocktails - buy one get one free - oh dear! Lottie had 'sex on the beach' followed by a 'leg opener'. She didn't, however, get a 'screaming orgasm'! Can't have been very good sex on the beach then can it 😉 Phat showed off his pool skills, beating all comers with his pow pow pow pots. And so back to the hotel for some much needed sleep ready for the boat trip the next day.

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