Royalty
Hue, Vietnam
May 07, 2009
We woke up on good time and showered. I ate some of my cereal with soy milk and peanut butter. We checked out and left our bags at the hotel until our train ride at 4:38.
We stopped on our way to the Citadel at Nha Hang restaurant. We both ordered grilled cheese sandwiches which were made on baguettes with very little cheese, butter and mayo. It was not as bad as it sounds. I had bitter tea and Bill had a banana shake.
The citadel is fortress that is surrounded by a 10 km moat. The wall has three straight sides and one curved wall that follows the Perfume River. The citadel is made up of three enclosures: civic, imperial and the forbidden purple city. Sounds intriguing! It was built by a French architect with Chinese and military influence.
From outside the moat and walls you can see the massive flag tower. It is the highest flag tower in Vietnam, 37 m, and has the largest flag in Vietnam.
We entered through Quang Duc Gate. Inside the gate there are five canons representing - earth, fire, water, metal and wood. At the other gate there are four canons representing the seasons.
We then went through the Ngu Mon Gate. The Emperor would sit on this gate to overlook the courtyard and the flag pole. In August of 1945 it was here that the Nguyen dynasty abdicated the throne to Ho Chi Minh's party.
We used the Emperor's bridge to cross over the lily pond and entered Thai Hou Palace. It contains a throne and 80 red lacquer columns. I was video taping the interior while a guard was yelling at me from across the room "no photo".
Outside of this building are the Halls of the Mandarins. They now house displays of pictures, handicrafts and garments of the royalty. There are 2 large 17th century caldrons (vac dong) outside.
We walked around the Forbidden Purple City which has a theatre and a library. The buildings were very beautiful on the outside, but we were not allowed inside. Much of this area is under renovations right now.
Bill's sunburn was hurting him, so I carried around our heavy bag. I think it is packed with bricks...
Hung Mieu temple is dedicated to Emperor Gia Long's parents. It is red and gold inside and has lots of beautiful dragons.
The Mieu honours 10 Emperors and was restored in 1997-8. There is an alter for each Emperor and it has a picture of the Emperor and an incense burner. Behind the alters there are tiny thrones for each one.
In the courtyard there are 9 cauldrons in front of the Hien Lam Pavilion. They have beautiful landscapes, animals and birds on them. These represent the power and stability of the Nguyen dynasty.
After we left the grounds we walked to Dong Ba Market near the river. It was really dumpy outside. There was garbage everywhere. Inside was not too bad. There are some places to eat and shoes, snacks, hats, jewellery, souvenirs, clothing, stationary and helmets for sale. After wandering around for 1/2 hour, Bill bought some cashews for the train ride for $2. I bought 4 apples outside for 30,000 dong.
We crossed over the Perfume River on a different bridge than this morning. We went back to Phoung Ngu Lao Street and went to Omar's Indian Restaurant for naan, garlic naan, butter chicken, chai tea, lamb and Hue Beer for 227,000 dong. It was excellent!
We paid 20,000 dong each for a cyclo ride. My driver found a short-cut and we beat Bill back to the hotel. We used the internet there for a while, then I changed my clothes and the hotel manager called a taxi for us.
It was a fairly direct route to the train station and it cost us 30,000 dong. The train was supposed to leave at 4:38, but it was around 5:00 when we left. We boarded the train and were alone for the time being in our 6 bed cabin. We passed the time by playing Rummy until after dark. At 7:30 we stopped and collected more passengers. Some ladies with babies (and others) popped their heads into our berth and then quickly moved on. After a while two guys showed up and climbed into the top bunks. There was a stop again after 11:00 and one more guy joined us.
I read my book for a while and it was after our second stop that I fell asleep.