Hue

After such a late night, Dai (aka David) our guide, allowed us to sleep in a bit. We were wide awake before 7 a.m. anyway. The hotel elevator was so slow that we finally gave up and walked up five floors by the stairway to get to breakfast, which was another large buffet. The dining room had a nice view of the city -- the first we'd seen of it since we came in by night. Hue (pronounce "way" with a slight breath before it, or "hway") appears to be somewhat cleaner and less chaotic than Hanoi, with much more green space.

Hue was the capital of Vietnam from 1805, when the emperor moved from Hanoi to a more central location. After the abdication of the last emperor in 1945, Ho Chi Minh moved the capital back to Hanoi, but the partition of the country came soon after. Thus, Saigon became the capital of the south while Hanoi remained capital of the north. Hue was just south of the partition, the DMZ.

The bus trip to the old citadel was a short one, just across the river, but the heavy traffic would have made it a dangerous walk. As it was, we were buzzed by honking scooters and vans just walking from the bus to the main gate.

The outermost wall has fortifications that reflect 19th century French military technology. The next ring has a gate that reflects a much greater Chinese influence. Our guide gave a lengthy lecture on the organization of the Vietnamese emperor's court, with heavy emphasis on the roles of eunuchs and concubines. This held the group's interest, but was not new information to any who have read about the parallels in the Chinese Forbidden City.

Portions of the citadel are well preserved, but other portions were heavily damaged or destroyed during the Japanese invasion in World War II, and the French and American Indochina wars. There was considerable damage during the Tet Offensive in 1968. Restoration work has been done recently.

The tour was shortened by some group members who insisted on taking too much time in a souvenir shop (even after our guide had warned that there would be no bargains here and it would be better to wait for shopping until tomorrow).

More time was wasted when some of these same group members wandered off and did not find their way back to the meeting point until the guide went searching for them. We lost nearly and hour, and I was livid! Had I been leading a student group, there would have been people left behind, with severe consequences later on. However, our guide can neither give failing grades, nor afford to offend those he depends upon for a tip.

Lunch was at a Buddhist convent. A large and delicious vegetarian meal was prepared by one of the nuns. After we ate, she sat with us for some time for a Q&A session about her life. Our guide translated and we learned interesting details of the religious life in this country. There are vast differences in practice in Vietnam compared to that in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Tibet, and other cultures.

From lunch we were taken by bus to the river for a dragon boat cruise. The river is pretty, with park land and trees almost continuously along both banks. It was quite pleasant on the boat on a day with temperatures in the 80s and humidity almost 100%, but the boat was really a floating souvenir shop. Some people seem compelled to buy junk everywhere they go, so they did business with our group.

The boat dropped us at the Thien Mu Pagoda along the river bank. Built in 1601, it is the oldest surviving pagoda in Hue, and is staffed by monks. The bell tower is the most distinctive feature, but our guide wanted us to know the more recent history of 1963, when the monastery became a political center of dissent against the corrupt Diem regime of South Vietnam.

The "venerable" (or abbot) of this monastery drove his blue Austin to Saigon, got a gas can out of the trunk, sat down in the middle of a major intersection and immolated himself. In the months that followed, a number of other monks followed his example in protest until Diem was removed in a military coup d'etat.

On the way out of the pagoda, our guide stopped at a fruit stand to buy a bag of purple mangosteens. These were quite unusual -- sort of a cross between a clementine and a banana -- and something we'd not encountered before. Very tasty!

After a break, we met in the hotel lobby to walk to dinner at a nearby restaurant. This was yet another excellent meal of many small courses (the only really large course is the rice course) of various vegetables, shrimp, fish, chicken, and a banana-nut dessert. Taking our time getting back to the hotel we stopped in at a number of small shops, just to browse, not to buy. We were back at the hotel by 8 p.m. to get ready for an early departure in the morning.