Saturday 29th March – Hue
Although I had booked a motorbike to take me around the sites today I ended up sharing a car with a Japanese guy. The hotel staff came and asked me about it this morning when I was packing up and I decided it was a good option.
The first place we went to was Tu Hieu Pagoda which was absolutely amazing. There were Buddhist monks wandering around and studying. I find it really hard to describe these places and keep saying wait for the pictures which will do them more justice than I will and may have to repeat myself again! I read some of the principles of Buddhism and also looked at some of the meditations. Apparently when bells are rung all the monks pause and contemplate. I actually had a bit of a moment at this place. It was so tranquil and beautiful and I didn’t want to leave.
The next stop was Tu Duc tomb. Tu Duc was one of the Emperors and was apparently a “romantic poet and weak King, who ruled Vietnam from 1847 to 1883”. There was a beautiful lake and large, elegant pavillions and pine trees. Apparently the place only took 3 years to complete which is amazing if you see the sheer scale of it. Although, there was a group of American tourists who may disagree with this assessment. As I was looking round one of the smaller temples one of them said, “Ooooh, it’s all falling apart”. I was seriously tempted to point out the fact that it was actually in quite a good state, the fact that it was -quite- old and the fact that they didn’t understand history as they didn’t have anything ancient in their country….however, I bit my tongue!
The next place we visited was Khai Dinh tomb. This was something of a contrast from the previous mausoleum comprising of European Baroque and ornamental Sino-Vietnamese architecture and styles. The tomb was up a large hill with far too many stairs for the temperature it was today. The principle temple was amazing with every inch seemingly decorated with ornate glass and porcelain mosaic. The ceiling had the most amazing mural which was based on dragons and was apparently completed by a local artist.
The fourth stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda. This was closer to the town itself than the other sites and, again, in an elevated position. The position enamoured me more to this site than the pagoda itself, although it did have some great statues of comedy looking chaps and funny animals. One thing which I loved in nearly all of the places was the staircases adorned with stone dragons, handle-rail stylee.
The final stop was the citadel which forms the centre of Hue. This was laid out in the early nineteenth centrury by Emperor Gia Long, however many of the buildings were destroyed in the War. There were still places to look around although this was by no means my favourite of the places visited, maybe partly as I was expiring in the heat at this point. I sat down on some steps and some guy decided to start taking photos of me. This has happened on more than one occasion and is something that I find very odd. Especially as I had sat down at the citadel as I was literally dripping with sweat. Maybe he wanted to take a photo to show his friends how weird Western women were. Women over here dress so modestly it’s untrue. They cover up to the extent of wearing long gloves if they have short sleeves on and even wear socks with toes when they are wearing flip-flops or sandals. I think it’s partly to do with the sun and heat and also for modesty. They also tend to swim with their clothes on! There are some local women who dress in more “Western style” and no I don’t mean stetsons and cowboy boots. That would be hysterical actually. I think that the more Western dressing is the influx of tourism and the Western influence and appears to be more apparent in bigger, more touristy areas – that and a style adopted by local prostitutes.
Whilst in Hue I have managed to stub about every single toe. Admittedly not as impressively as an Australian woman I met on the boat trip in Nha Trang who had broken her toe to great effect in a drunken stumble. I blame flip-flops myself and uneven pavements with big rocks on. I can’t help it when I’m looking around at scenery!
I’m now back at the hotel killing an hour and a half before my sleeper bus arrives to take me to Hanoi. I’m hoping I will actually be able to sleep. I appear to have an inability to sleep on anything that moves demonstrated by my insomnia thus far on planes, trains and buses. We’ll see, at least I won’t keep getting accosted by an old Vietnamese guy trying to give me hard-boiled eggs this time – I hope!