December 11th to 13th
We catch the train from Da Nang to Hue following the advice of Nick, the slightly enigmatic divorcee who had settled on Bohol with his new partner – she ran the B and B we stayed at while he seemed to … well, just while. That seems like an age ago, when we were pretty much newbies to this travelling. Man in Seat 61 had concurred that this was good advice and I was keeping everything crossed that I had a seat on the right side of the train. Of course the right side was the left and happily I did.
Train services in Vietnam are a little less officious than we have sampled so far. Uniforms are a little crumpled and plain whereas in Laos uniforms were pressed, boasting shiny buttons and stripes. The food service is remarkable though. Buffet trollies, manned by 4 male staff dishing out hot rice, pickles, chicken and/or pork and salad traverse up and down doling out steaming bowls to whoever is hungry. The job of one of the 4 is to photograph each plate before it is given and paid for – I have no idea why!! The coach is comfortable but raucous. A group of men have a lively chats with each other, across and up and down the aisle as well as on the phone. They are men of small stature but with very effective voices! It makes the journey atmospheric and I wish google translate could keep up with them. Phones hang from charging points near to the ceiling of the carriage and many of the passengers are settled in for the long 36ish hour journey from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. This is not called the Reunification line for nothing. For this leg we are only here for the 3 hour stretch of stunning coastline which marks the journey from Da Nang to Hue and boy it is stunning. Hundreds of photos are taken – none will ever manage to accurately covey the beauty (especially as the train windows down here in second class are a bit grimey) but still, they have to be taken.
Hue – a city where, for some reason (mostly a complete lack of research and awareness) I was expecting a small town or large village. Instead I quickly catch up and realise that Hue was the capital of Imperial Vietnam. It has been on the sharp end of a lot of sometimes symbolic but also violent changes because of it’s association with the Imperial dynasties. The most recent being easily within living memory and the effects are still palpable. First impressions though are that it is noisy with the Vietnamese car/moped/bus horns and cyclists constantly saying beep beep. Noisy also with bars and music on the south side of the Perfume river. It is very lively after dark and industrious during the day. It somehow promises a lot but not all is delivered as advertised.
The night market and walking streets seem to have walked off (despite internet assurances that they are everyday they are weekend only) and the hop on hop off bus which I was excited to see as who does not love a hop in hop off city tour to get your bearings, is not really hop-on-able if you decide to hop off despite being part of the large Citysightseeing franchise. The ticket seller explains fromher kiosk that the timetable is more of a loose guide and she cannot guarantee a following bus to get back on if we were to hop off. Instead the Vietnamese solution was we explain where we would most like to get off (actually she told us!) and then the bus would wait for us. The ticket seller is also coming with us to make sure – we appear to be on a big red double decker taxi!! It is fun though and a great way to see a city marking out where you want to come back to.
The Perfume river cuts through Hue, according to the blurb, like a ‘ribbon of silk’. This, I think, was slightly overstating it although the lines of identically uniformed tricycles taking groups of tourists around did look more like colourful ribbons as they rippled along streets. It creates a north and side of the city. The north is dominated by the Imperial citadel, home to the previous Emperors and their huge courts and administrations. No building is allowed to be higher than the citadel and consequentially north Hue has remained fairly under developed and more traditionally Vietnamese. The massive Dong Ba market is this side and there are lots of small alleys with cafes, eateries and parks.
By contrast the south side is full of modern hotels, western style bars and the tall buildings associated in every city with a business district. It is flashy and busy. There are bridges connecting the 2 sides, one designed by Gustav Eiffel who seemed to have had a thing for bridges in Vietnam. The river, while maybe not actually perfumed or silk like, is a central point with many of the attractions visible from the banks and lit up at night. Boat tours are offered at every opportunity as soon as you point yourself towards the water but despite persistence a polite no is well taken. Hue is an ordinary city with ordinary people working, eating, drinking and playing.
We hopped off (as directed) at the most recent royal tomb having viewed pagodas, incense stalls and temples from the top deck. The thing about the emperors is that they did like to be buried well. Building of tombs start well before death and no expense is spared. It must be an odd thing to have a hand in your commemoration which you know is going to stand for decades or centuries, probably gratifying if your ego is inflated. The Mausoleum of Emperor Khai Dinh who was the 12th and penultimate Emperor of the Nguyan dynasty was completed in 1931 after 11 years of construction. It was also 6 years after his death in 1925. Khai Dinh was friendly with his French bosses and not popular with the common Vietnamese. His tomb shows western influences and during its constructions the French raised taxes by 30%. I think the response was similar to what you would expect from UK papers nowadays. However, it was finished and is a remamarkable monument however it came about. Despite it feeling like it is an ancient concept there are obvious art nouveau and modern references.
The role of Hue as the home to the Emperors when Vietnam was a monarchist feudal society, which it was for thousands of years before becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1945 remains important to its character now. No-one calls Vietnam by its full name and there is little evidence of much socialist or communist tendencies amongst the entrepreneurs and industrious people we see today. Vietnam’s history is nuanced and complicated. This is no claim to be a detailed understanding or even completely accurate however to understand Hue today I needed to try and get some sort of handle on at least the recent history. It is a history marked by overseas powers claiming the right to rule over whatever dynasty was sitting whether that be China, France or Japan during WW2. It is complicated by differing ideologies developing within the country causing civil war and disruption.
In 1954, 9 years after the last (13th) Emperor had abdicated and after the French had eventually accepted that they could not have Vietnam back just because Japan had lost their part in WW2 the Geneva Accord split Vietnam in 2 – north and south. However no democratic process was put in place to reunify, as was promised, and the conflicting ideolgies (backed ‘secretely’ on both sides by, again, foreign economies) developed into the American War, as it is called here – what we know as the Vietnam War. In 1975 the south and America was defeated both through horrendous fighting and atrocities on the ground and through popular opinion and demonstrations abroad and Saigon in the south was renamed Ho Chi Minh city. Socialism was the approach and infrastructure was developed including free education. The numbers of Vietnamese living in poverty declined, however the economics did not add up. Central banks offered loans but insisted on the selling of state owned infrastructure which was refused. In the early 2000’s however the approach changed and now Vietnam is a fully fledged member of the global economy. The following explains things more clerarly and probably way more accurately
The imperial attributes of Hue – the citadel housing the imperial city and the forbidden puple city with its palaces, royal theatre, gardens, pavillions and throne rooms were targeted in all wars. The citadel is a walled 2km square area further surrounded by a moat. The city within these walls has another smaller moat and more walls. It is open to look around and you expect opulence and luxury, especially having seen the mausoleum previously. However the citadel more eloquently shows the neglect and deliberate damage caused to it by those rallying and fighting against first the French and then the capitalists. Although the language of the audio guide descibes vague events available history is much more direct.
Bullet holes and bomb damage from 1947 when the Viet Minh seized it from the French who counter attacked and in doing so burnt down many of the main buildings In January/February1968 during the Tet offensive of the Vietnam war the imperial citadel became a battleground again and after protracted bombing raids and hand to hand fighting only 10 of the 160 main buildings were left standing. Despite UNESCO world heritage site status the remaining buildings and grounds appear down at heel, unkempt and sad. Sad mostly because it no longer reflects the huge effort that was taken in 1802 at the beginningof the Nguyen dynasty when it was conceived and then built following extensive consultation regarding position, timing, aspect and materials – all supposedly alligned to ensure prosperity and longevity.
Despite all of this however it is still a place to gather on the north side of town and a French designed and delivered light show dressed the Meridien gate or Ngo Mon to reflect some of its past glory.
All of this history makes a girl hungry and Hue really does hit the mark here. As befitting a royal city much of the cuisine associated with Hue was developed by top chefs of their time for the royal palette. Hue’s specialisties have continued along this theme and we spent a good few hours hunting down specific dishes such as Ca Phe Muoi or salt coffee (has to be tasted to convince anyone it is delicious but think salted caramel), Bun Bo Hue (beef noodles), Va Tron (green fig salad), Nem lui Hue (lemongrass pork) and Banh Khoai (crispy crepes) and Banh Nam (royal cakes – not cakes but glutinous rice base with shrimp topping. But you will have to wait for me to sort the recipe pages to see those mouth watering photos
Hue was not an instant attraction but one which got so much better with effort. Now it is time to reboard the reunification express overnight to Hanoi.
– Nikki