Huang, our guide, met us bright and early to begin our tour of Hue. He seems like a nice guy but, unfortunately, we’re experiencing a great deal of difficulty understanding him. Very frustrating when you’re trying to learn facts/history. His vocabulary is actually amazing, but his accent is so heavy that we can only make out every third word or so and we have to try to piece together what he is trying to say.
We walked from our hotel down to the waterfront to begin our cruise down the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. Built on a hill overlooking the river, this pagoda is an icon of Vietnam. Thien Mu Pagoda was orginally founded in 1601 by Nguyen Hoang, governor of Thuan Hoa province. Over the centuries its buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Within the main sanctuary are three Buddahs – those of the past, present, and future.
Even though we had a hard time understanding Huang, our next venture to the Forbidden Purple City (within Hue’s Citadel) was nothing short of amazing! The Forbidden City was built for the personal use of the emporer. The only servants allowed into the compound were eunuchs who would pose no threat to the royal concubines. The boys were fascinated by the details provided by Huang – one king had up to 500 concubines; although sterile, the eunuchs could still engage in sexual relationships with the concubines as long as it remained secret from the king; when the concubines slept with the king, the eunuchs had to record the exact time so that if a concubine became pregnant they could trace it to the king; the eunuchs were responsible for the king’s ‘lovemaking’ schedule; etc.
In the Forbidden Purple City we visited the Royal Theatre (now home to the National Conservatory of Music), the Emperor’s Reading Room (the only part of the Forbidden Purple City to have escaped damage during the French reoccupation of Hue in 1947), the Hien Lam Pavillion, and the Dien Tho Residence (the apartments and audience hall of the Queen Mothers of the Nguyen dynasty).
We toured the many components of the Purple City for well over an hour and a half. Even though we had our hats, umbrellas, mega doses of water, and sunscreen, the sun was absolutely withering. We ambled about slowly, afraid to put too much effort into our steps for fear of collapsing under the heat. Our fellow travellers all expressed that they, too, were struggling.
Lunch was a welcome respite from the scorching temperature and after eating/drinking inside we felt somewhat refreshed and ready for the afternoon. We visited two stunning mausoleums – that of Khai Dinh (who was in power from 1916 to 1925) and Minh Mang (who ruled from 1820 to 1840). Both were spectacular but our favourite was that of Khai Dinh. He was the 12th emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. He was such a narcissist that he had his mausoleum planned years before his death and taxed his people 30% extra in order to finance its construction. That being said, he did one heckuva job! Gotta love the guy! After climbing 36 steps between four dragon banisters, you reach the first courtyard, flanked by two pavilions. The Honour Courtyard, with its statues of elephants, mandarins, and horses is an imposing structure. The walls and ceilings are covered with intricate, colourful mosaics of ceramics and glass. Under a canopy is a gilt bronze statue of Khai Dinh. His remains are buried 18 meters below the statue. Absolutely awesome!
Although the day was incredible all four of us couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to jump in the pool. And that we did. We swam and rested for over three hours before we could move again. Much of our time was spent talking to the ‘United Nations’ hanging around the pool trying to beat the heat. We chatted with Italians, Germans, Greeks, Russians, Americans, and Vietnamese families.
Later, the boys opted to write their journals and read instead of going out (it was still stinking hot!) for supper so Joe and I went out and brought them back some BBQ chicken, rice, and fruit.
Tomorrow we’re off to Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. It’s a three-hour drive but we don’t care as the van has air-conditioning! We’ll be staying at a beach resort after doing a bit of touring the highlights of the city. The next day we’re off to Hoi An and we can’t wait – it’s supposed to be amazing!
We walked from our hotel down to the waterfront to begin our cruise down the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. Built on a hill overlooking the river, this pagoda is an icon of Vietnam. Thien Mu Pagoda was orginally founded in 1601 by Nguyen Hoang, governor of Thuan Hoa province. Over the centuries its buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Within the main sanctuary are three Buddahs – those of the past, present, and future.
Even though we had a hard time understanding Huang, our next venture to the Forbidden Purple City (within Hue’s Citadel) was nothing short of amazing! The Forbidden City was built for the personal use of the emporer. The only servants allowed into the compound were eunuchs who would pose no threat to the royal concubines. The boys were fascinated by the details provided by Huang – one king had up to 500 concubines; although sterile, the eunuchs could still engage in sexual relationships with the concubines as long as it remained secret from the king; when the concubines slept with the king, the eunuchs had to record the exact time so that if a concubine became pregnant they could trace it to the king; the eunuchs were responsible for the king’s ‘lovemaking’ schedule; etc.
In the Forbidden Purple City we visited the Royal Theatre (now home to the National Conservatory of Music), the Emperor’s Reading Room (the only part of the Forbidden Purple City to have escaped damage during the French reoccupation of Hue in 1947), the Hien Lam Pavillion, and the Dien Tho Residence (the apartments and audience hall of the Queen Mothers of the Nguyen dynasty).
We toured the many components of the Purple City for well over an hour and a half. Even though we had our hats, umbrellas, mega doses of water, and sunscreen, the sun was absolutely withering. We ambled about slowly, afraid to put too much effort into our steps for fear of collapsing under the heat. Our fellow travellers all expressed that they, too, were struggling.
Lunch was a welcome respite from the scorching temperature and after eating/drinking inside we felt somewhat refreshed and ready for the afternoon. We visited two stunning mausoleums – that of Khai Dinh (who was in power from 1916 to 1925) and Minh Mang (who ruled from 1820 to 1840). Both were spectacular but our favourite was that of Khai Dinh. He was the 12th emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. He was such a narcissist that he had his mausoleum planned years before his death and taxed his people 30% extra in order to finance its construction. That being said, he did one heckuva job! Gotta love the guy! After climbing 36 steps between four dragon banisters, you reach the first courtyard, flanked by two pavilions. The Honour Courtyard, with its statues of elephants, mandarins, and horses is an imposing structure. The walls and ceilings are covered with intricate, colourful mosaics of ceramics and glass. Under a canopy is a gilt bronze statue of Khai Dinh. His remains are buried 18 meters below the statue. Absolutely awesome!
Although the day was incredible all four of us couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to jump in the pool. And that we did. We swam and rested for over three hours before we could move again. Much of our time was spent talking to the ‘United Nations’ hanging around the pool trying to beat the heat. We chatted with Italians, Germans, Greeks, Russians, Americans, and Vietnamese families.
Later, the boys opted to write their journals and read instead of going out (it was still stinking hot!) for supper so Joe and I went out and brought them back some BBQ chicken, rice, and fruit.
Tomorrow we’re off to Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. It’s a three-hour drive but we don’t care as the van has air-conditioning! We’ll be staying at a beach resort after doing a bit of touring the highlights of the city. The next day we’re off to Hoi An and we can’t wait – it’s supposed to be amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment