Sunday, December 31, 2006
Discovering the Imperial City of Hue, Vietnam
Sorry for the delay in posting. Six days ago, there was an earthquake near Taiwan which damaged the fibre optic cable which connects the Internet within Asia. Deep sea divers are still trying to fix the cable which is 30 metres below sea level so it will be some time before Broadband Internet is restored. So in the mean time, chug, chug, chug goes the Internet.
I spent three glorious days in Hue, the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam located in the centre of the city. Compared to Saigon or Hanoi, Hue is laid-back and almost provincial with its wide boulevards, tree-lined streets and quiet old city. One thing that strikes me is that for the first time, I'm in a city where there are more bicycles than motorcyles, mopeds or cars. I stayed at the lovely Saigon Morin Hotel, the oldest luxury hotel in Hue, which has the best service I've encountered anywhere in Asia. (The big plus: it was relatively quiet.) However, be warned if you come to Vietnam: most Vietnamese work seven days per week and the official starting time is 7 a.m. Even in a luxury hotel, I was woken up every morning at 7 a.m. by staff going about their business.
I spent three glorious days in Hue, the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam located in the centre of the city. Compared to Saigon or Hanoi, Hue is laid-back and almost provincial with its wide boulevards, tree-lined streets and quiet old city. One thing that strikes me is that for the first time, I'm in a city where there are more bicycles than motorcyles, mopeds or cars. I stayed at the lovely Saigon Morin Hotel, the oldest luxury hotel in Hue, which has the best service I've encountered anywhere in Asia. (The big plus: it was relatively quiet.) However, be warned if you come to Vietnam: most Vietnamese work seven days per week and the official starting time is 7 a.m. Even in a luxury hotel, I was woken up every morning at 7 a.m. by staff going about their business.
Hue sits on the tranquil Perfume River. The main sites are the Imperial City and the series of mausoleums built for the Nguyen emporers along the river. I took a day-long boat tour on the Perfume River, visiting the famous Thien Mu Pagoda and three imperial tombs of Tu Doc, Khai Dinh and Minh Mang. The main thing you need to know is that each tomb has its own personality. Tu Doc's tomb resembles this oasis of zen tranquility and is almost Japanese in design, with beautiful frangipani trees and lotus-filled ponds dominating the landscape. Kahi Dinh's tomb is an imposing, almost militaristic place with menacing dragon statues and lots of carved, life-size stone guardians. While quite stark on the outside, inside is gorgeous and awash in colour with beautiful mosaics of Japanese and Chinese ceramics and a golden statue of the emperor himself. Minh Mang's tomb is the most western of the lot with Chinese and French influences.
I also visited the citadel, known as Da Noi, which is beautiful. The sad thing is that of the original 120 buildings there, only around 20 remain due to the heavy bombing by U.S. forces during the Vietnam war. I personally think that there should be a new category of war crimes (if there isn't already) called "crimes against cultural heritage" for groups or regimes which wilfully destroy historic and cultural national treasures during the course of unprovoked war.
Yesterday, I took a half-day tour of the Demilitarized Zone, known as the DMZ, which was the stretch of land (8 km) separating the north and south Vietnamese armies until elections could be held. Elections were never held and the DMZ eventually became the site of heavy bombing during the Vietnam war. The area is now lush and covered with rice fields but it resembled a lunar landscape for years and nothing would grow there due to the napalm, agent orange and bombs. Unfortunately, it's still full of landmines and often water buffalo, cows and unlucky farmers are blown up when they accidentally come across a land mine. My tour also spent some time down in the tunnels that they locals built and lived in for five years. Seventeen babies were born in the tunnels and they have all come here with their families to honour their childhoods.
After the DMZ tour, I hopped on the overnight 'Reunification Express' night train from Hue to Hanoi which was an experience in itself. I shared a sleeping cabin with two middle-aged Vietnamese men who didn't speak a lick of English and continuously attempted to talk to me. They were lovely for the most part, sharing their hoard of food with me (chocolate wagon wheels, noodles laced with MSG, etc.) and insisting that I sleep on the bottom bunk beside one of them. (To which I vigorously nodded my head in the negative.) I was awakened at 2:30 a.m. when they woke up to eat their noodles. It is true that Asian people eat at all times of the day and they were totally oblivious to the fact that 1) it was early in the morning, 2) everyone else was asleep and 3) they were sharing a berth with a sleepy foreigner who may not appreciate being woken up. Anyway, I took it in good stride, spilling my noodles on one of their beds while struggling to prepare the noodles. The train pulled in to Hanoi at 5 a.m., about five hours ahead of the time that I was told. Luckily, my hotel admitted me early and I crashed back into bed.
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Sounds like a scene from a movie. Knowing you, I can totally picture you nodding at these men and smiling and shaking your head. Glad to hear you're keeping your virtue. (I'm sure the offer to share a bunk was tempting.) Can't wait to see you and see the pictures and hear more stories. Florida is fun, too.
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